016 Leveraging One Skill to Fund a Lifestyle Business and Purposeful Non-Profit with Louise Henry

Ever wondered how a digital nomad turns passion into profit? Louise Henry went from virtual assistant to online course tycoon - and her journey is inspirational. Join us as Louise unveils the secrets behind her online empire, and how she transformed her dreams into realities—including buying a beach house, helping her brother relocate to Panama, and starting a nonprofit.

• How did Louise harness her skills and scale so phenomenally? We’ll explore her transition into the realm of online courses.
• Be inspired by the story of how Louise launched her nonprofit initiative, Tim's Club, supporting those with autism.
• Get an insider look into Kartra, the game-changing marketing platform that catapulted Louise's courses to success.
• Discover the true power of YouTube, as Louise discusses the art of turning viewers into dedicated subscribers and, eventually, customers.

Louise emphasizes the importance of perseverance, continuous improvement, and the transformative role of mentors in the online space. You’ll learn from her experience—from leveraging technology and mastering sales funnels to overcoming self-doubt and redefining beliefs about sales.

Listen to Episode 16 of the Paid To Create Podcast today and let Louise Henry inspire you to dream bigger, act bolder, and create a life without limits. Tune in now!

Transcript

Louise Henry (00:00):

I started a virtual assistant business and quickly got booked out with that, which was fantastic. So then that unlocked this whole lifestyle. So that's when I saw the opportunity and I was like, I think this could be packaged up into an online course. Then I started understanding launches and sales funnels, and so once I was able to implement those two things, that's when things really started to pick up.

Sarah Jenkins (00:24):

Welcome to the Paid to Create Podcast, where we dig into the secret strategies of successful creators making a lucrative living. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

AJ Roberts (00:33):

I just have to tell you about Kartra, the marketing platform that has seriously transformed my business. You know how running a business can be insanely time-consuming, right? Well, Kartra has been a game changer for me. It's honestly like having an entire marketing team in my pocket. And what I love most is that it automates all the tedious daily tasks for me, from marketing to sales, to even customer experience. I can't believe how much time and energy I've saved since I started using it. And get this, with Kartra I can create websites, funnels, courses, membership sites, email campaigns, calendars, surveys, you name it.

(01:06):

It's made managing my business so much simpler and more affordable. Honestly, I can't recommend Kartra enough. If you're curious, head to paidtocreate.com/kartra to start your trial. Trust me, you won't regret it. Welcome to another episode of the Paid to Create Podcast. I'm thrilled to introduce our next guest, Louise Henry. Louise is an online entrepreneur and a digital nomad and the mind behind Louisehenry.com. Her mission, helping entrepreneurs understand how to leverage tech so they can save time, automate more, and scale their business with ease. Louise, welcome to the show.

Louise Henry (01:42):

Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

AJ Roberts (01:45):

It's a pleasure. I've been watching a ton of your YouTube videos just to get a vibe for how you present and what you do, and it's like I'm inspired. And I'm like, oh, wow. I see why you've done so well. But before we get into where you are now, maybe you can back up and tell us kind of how you began your journey into this online entrepreneurship.

Louise Henry (02:09):

Absolutely. So when I was in university, I realized I absolutely do not want to take the traditional corporate path. That had become really obvious to me that that wasn't going to work. So I decided to start my first business right out of university, which was actually a physical product business. I thought that in order to start a business, you had to create a brand new product that nobody had ever created before. I've since learned that that's not the case at all, and that is not a requirement. So I was doing jewelry. But with that type of business of course, then I had to deal with inventory, shipping, design, manufacturing, all of these things and it was an incredible-

Sarah Jenkins (02:57):

A lot of fun things.

Louise Henry (02:58):

Yeah, right. So all of these things which I had had no prior experience in, it was an incredible learning experience and I picked up so many skills. But I was like, this is not ultimately the type of business that I want to create. And what happened was I went on holiday to Bali, and when I got there I saw that there were all these young people there just with their laptops and they were just running these businesses literally from just that. They had no inventory, it was a fully digital business. And I was like, that's so cool, I want to do that. So it sort of opened my eyes to that world instead. And so then I took the skills that I had developed through the jewelry business and turned that into a virtual assistant business, because I was like, okay, I have some skills now. I know how to build a website.

(03:49):

I know how to send emails. I know social media. Okay, let's see what we can do there. So I started a virtual assistant business and quickly got booked out with that, which was fantastic. So then that unlocked this whole lifestyle. I had actually met my husband in Bali, so I did have the extra incentive of, okay, I need to go back and move there. I need to move there to go be with him. So I did that and then yeah, I too was living that digital nomad lifestyle which for me was such a dream. It wasn't as common as it is now. It wasn't as well known. So I just felt like, oh, this is such a dream opportunity. When I was growing up I could not even imagine that being an option.

(04:32):

And then from there, after the virtual assistant world, I discovered the world of online courses. And then I was like, okay, this is sort of the next level after that where this is a more leveraged model where I can help thousands of people all around the world. I can make really good money and I can continue to travel the world and work from my laptop.

Sarah Jenkins (04:52):

And you can see your boyfriend, hopefully husband.

Louise Henry (04:54):

Yeah, now husband.

Sarah Jenkins (04:56):

There you go. That's great. So who was the first person you did personal assisting for? What was your jobs and stuff?

Louise Henry (05:03):

Yeah. Well, I had a few different ones but they were all online coaches really, online coaches or service providers. So that's really what helped so much because I was seeing behind the scenes of this type of business. So I just feel like that really accelerated things for me, that it was just a fast track to understanding this, understanding things like Kartra and all the tools that you need and how it all works together. That really showed me, okay, this is what you need to know.

Sarah Jenkins (05:30):

I'm definitely not leading the witness, but I figured you were probably going that route.

AJ Roberts (05:35):

What's fascinating to me, and I think something that a lot of people especially new to the digital world, is you had a skillset you had built with the jury business. And you leverage that skillset to begin to create that financial freedom. And through that, you then got an education from working for these people that you wouldn't have got any other way, and you got to see the power of what they were doing. And you mentioned the word leveraged area. What did that mean for you, because it means different things to different people? So for you obviously you created a business where you could work from everywhere. So what then was the incentive to shift gears? What does leverage mean and what were you looking to achieve?

Louise Henry (06:22):

Yeah, I really wanted to be able to expand my business but without having 20 calls every single week on my calendar. So I was looking for something that matched up, that I would be able to take my knowledge now and instead of delivering it one on one, I could turn that into a product instead. So that's really what my online courses have allowed me to do, is just package it up and sell that. And then I can sell thousands of copies and it's not extra work for me every single time I sell an additional copy of the course. So really for me, courses just sounded so ideal to me because I could impact more people, therefore there was no cap on my income. All of a sudden it just completely eliminated any barrier to how much I could make based on the hours I had each week. So that was just so exciting to me. I just really like building something where there's like no ceiling to it, that just feels really fun and exciting to me.

Sarah Jenkins (07:24):

Oh yeah, having money that you can make one call at a time versus if you put that call into a recording, and then now you have unlimited possibilities.

Louise Henry (07:34):

Exactly.

AJ Roberts (07:35):

Yeah, it's super interesting. For your first course, did you go the tech route or... You mentioned you were doing a bunch of stuff. So what was the first course? Was it a success? And how did you market it to an audience?

Louise Henry (07:50):

Yeah. Okay, so my first one was actually on Squarespace because a lot of the virtual assistant clients just happened to be using Squarespace and asked me about it. So I was like, okay, cool. I'm learning more about it. At the same time, everyone was only recommending WordPress and I was like, wait, this is so much easier. Especially for my client at the time they were really skilled coaches and experts in their field, but it's going to be way more complicated for them to build their website that way. So that's when I saw the opportunity and I was like, I think this could be packaged up into an online course. So I packaged that up into what I called Website that Wows. So this is my first one. I launched it, but I was still learning. So the first time I launched it, I got zero sales. And I was like, oh, no, I think I just spent all this time on this online course. This is a disaster. This was such a mistake.

(08:48):

I'm rethinking everything. I think I was in tears as well. But I was like, okay, I'm going to keep going. I've heard other stories like this, I'm going to keep going. I think I sent two emails. And so now knowing a lot more about marketing and sales, you really have to back your product. You have to really push it a little bit more than two emails. So I kept going, and then I started understanding launches and sales funnels. And so once I was able to implement those two things, that's when things really started to pick up. So really, that same course now has sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth.

Sarah Jenkins (09:28):

That's a ton.

Louise Henry (09:30):

Thank you. But yeah, definitely a rocky start. And then from there I went on to develop two other online courses. One on the project management tool Asana, which just took me from being a total hot mess trying to run my online business to being streamlined and organized. And then another one where I teach people how to create their own online course, how they can make sales in their sleep. And I teach them how to do that all with Kartra. So that's the journey of course. Did I just [inaudible 00:10:03], yay, well done. By the way, two emails does not a failure make.

AJ Roberts (10:09):

Question on that, because a lot of people would've done the launch, sent the two emails or whatever they thought, a lot of people spend all this time creating their product. They go live and they have the same result, no sales, but they don't continue. They go, well, I guess it's not work, it's all BS. None of these people are telling the truth and they go the other way. What gave you the faith to say, okay, it didn't work but I know it can? Was it the fact that you had seen these other people doing it, or was there something else driving you internally where you were like, I know it didn't work but I just got to figure it out?

Louise Henry (10:46):

Yeah, I think I've always been pretty good... I think it's the entrepreneurial personality of all of us, pretty good at being like, wait, there is a solution here. I don't know what it is yet, but I just have to keep going. I just need to. And so I think if people do that and just go, okay, wait, I might just be missing one little thing. And oftentimes-

Sarah Jenkins (11:08):

[inaudible 00:11:09] third email.

Louise Henry (11:10):

Yeah. And it's like I just figured if I kept going, I had to give it a proper shot. It can't just be one time and then you're going to give up. You got to try like 100 times. And even then I wouldn't say give up. I'd say get some help. I'd say bring on someone who knows what they're doing to help you.

AJ Roberts (11:29):

That's always a good point. In that case, did you have a mentor through this where you were learning this stuff or was it really trial and error?

Louise Henry (11:39):

No, so many mentors, honestly. Yeah, so many. I'm so fortunate that people are packaging up what they know into these, whether it's an online course or whether it's a group program, mastermind, whatever. I've been a part of so many and they have just helped me so much. I really appreciate someone just peeling back the curtain and showing here's exactly what you need to do. Here's all the specifics because it sounds simple like, oh, just put something online and sell it. And then really it's not, there's quite a few systems involved here. So yeah, I had a few really phenomenal mentors. Colleen Aneel was one. She introduced me to Kartra actually, so she was one. Mariah Coz is phenomenal, total online course expert. She taught me a lot. Alex Biden came in and taught me how to be a better launcher and what that really meant in the online space.

AJ Roberts (12:35):

I love it. Yeah, always invest in yourself and learn new skills because it pays off dividends. Now, I would call you a social media powerhouse, but you really seem to shine on YouTube. Did you stumble across that? What led you to using YouTube and especially video to grow your brand?

Louise Henry (12:59):

I think because when I was starting I really didn't have much of a budget, I was really like, what can I do in terms of marketing? And YouTube just seemed like such a smart idea in terms of doing so many things at once. It shows people what your expertise is, it shows you on videos so there's that personal connection. To me it just seemed like for the type of products and the type of business I was building, that YouTube would make sense. And it's proven to be such a smart decision. I didn't really realize at the time just how important it would be, and it's become more important to me over time. And just really proved to be a really smart strategy that benefits your business long-term. Like videos that I created years ago are still driving leads to my business today. So I just absolutely love it.

(13:55):

So now I'm telling everyone, get on YouTube. I don't care if you're not that comfortable on video yet. You can go watch my oldest video and see how awkward and uncomfortable I was, just go watch that it'll make you feel better. But it's been huge because you're really leveraging search data, so you're leveraging people that are actively looking for what you do. They're out there right now trying to do something. They're searching for help, and then your video comes up. That's just so powerful. And so really you're just getting such a hotter lead that is way more likely to turn into a customer, rather than on social media where often it's just random content flying by and it also doesn't last as long. So the longevity of YouTube videos has proven to be a really great marketing strategy.

AJ Roberts (14:45):

So with that, is there anything... Obviously you're leveraging search data and then they find your video. So how are you planning out your YouTube content, because obviously there's a lot of people who create content, put it on YouTube but they never get any views, they don't get any of subscribers? So is there a formula you follow that kind of sets your video up to play with those algorithms and have more success?

Louise Henry (15:09):

Yeah. So I use tools, there's one called Keywords Everywhere. It's a Chrome extension. I can use it to see just how many times people are searching for a particular term every single month. So that has been really helpful. So I go in, I do my SEO research and I'm just typing in all different variations that I can think of, of what would be a YouTube video. It pops up all these different ideas, and I'm just looking for the ones that people are actively looking for. So I'm looking for ones that maybe they have a few thousand searches per month, that's great. So I would have people start there. Actually, I would have people start with that and start small. I started with small little tips and trainings, things that I knew how to do and it was things that other people were looking for as well. So that's why it totally worked.

(16:08):

So I would say it's a combo of that, but obviously the personal side of things is great as well. So you can round out your channel with some that's more personal, fun, just things that you want to talk about. But then a lot of the search, the really intentional content, so using a tool like Keywords everywhere will really help.

AJ Roberts (16:27):

Yeah, I love the intention there because I think that's what missing from a lot of people's social media, is intent. They create something, but they don't necessarily know why they're creating other than it's what's on their mind at that moment. And then moving forward, obviously YouTube is a consumption platform. Your viewers are there, they're learning. How do you move them from just a viewer to say a subscriber or even a buyer, because I know you do a lot of affiliate promotions and stuff like that direct from there? So how does that play out strategically?

Louise Henry (16:57):

Yeah, so strategically what I'm trying to do for the most part is actually get people once they found me on YouTube to get off of YouTube. So-

Sarah Jenkins (17:08):

To capture the lead, bring them in house.

Louise Henry (17:12):

Exactly. That's my number one priority, is how do I... I think that other people are more focused on subscribers and views and likes and things like that. I'm focused on how can I get someone from YouTube over to my email list. So what I'm doing is I've set up a free guide or a free training that I will mention at the beginning of my YouTube video and at the end. And I will make it very obvious in the description as well that that is the next step, that's where I want you to go. Once you click on that link, then you're going to be led to a landing page that I've made in Kartra.

(17:49):

People need to type in their name and email to get access to that thing. They're then on my email list, and that really kicks off the process of them becoming a customer. So I'm really using email marketing, sales funnels, launches. Once they're on my email list, I'm using that to then get the majority of sales in my business. So even affiliate marketing, I'm including all of my affiliate links in that free guide, in the follow-up email. I'm trying to really link to that as much as possible, but some people even just click in the description on YouTube which is great. So I appreciate that. So I put all my affiliate links in my YouTube description as well, and some people click those. But I would say the majority of revenue in my business comes from my email list.

Sarah Jenkins (18:37):

And once they join your email list on Kartra with their name and email, do you have them in an autoresponder?

Louise Henry (18:44):

Yeah.

Sarah Jenkins (18:44):

What would you do then next, once they're in your email? How do you get them to that next level?

Louise Henry (18:49):

So what I do, the main setup I have right now is I have a free training. So they can watch the free training. Then at the end of the free training, I give them a limited time offer. So I'm using Kartras functionality to be able to do this, so there'll be a limited time offer. For example, if you buy my online course in the next five days, then you'll get a certain discount. I've found that people really need some sort of help or incentive to get off the fence. Otherwise, they'll just be like, oh yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I'll do that later. And even myself as a buyer, I appreciate the encouragement, the incentive, that works for me.

AJ Roberts (19:32):

Yeah. I got a nice saved folder on Instagram. I see ads, I click through, I go, this looks like a good product I need to pick up, but I don't want to have to go through the checkout process right now. I don't necessarily have another 20 minutes and I never go back. They're there for when I do, but the ones that are event based and there's a deadline or there's a reason to buy right away, those make a difference. And even when on the websites, when they pop they're like, oh, enter your email to get 10% off. It's like, well, I don't want to purchase right now so I'm not going to give you my email. So I like this formula. And it's crazy because a lot of people listening they're like, wait, email still works. And it's really direct response one on one, what you're saying. They're on a platform and they're a viewer.

(20:15):

Now, if they become a subscriber, they're cool. They show a little bit more interest, but we don't necessarily want them to have to pay attention to everything we're releasing. What we want is to move them to a channel, email in this instance which I still think is one of the best things to build an email list. But once we move them to that channel, now we can have a direct conversation with them. We're not relying on them seeing, oh, new video from Louise or it popping up on their feed amongst the 1000 other things. Like now we can have that direct conversation.

(20:45):

And then you're really just giving them a reason to move forward with what it is they've shown interest in, versus procrastinate any longer which is what we all do as humans. So I really like that. With the email of those listening, a lot of people are like, okay, we'll make a video, we'll get an email, we'll sell a product. It's a very fast process in their mind, but I would guess you probably have people who have been on your email list for six, eight, 12 months who don't purchase and then do. Have you seen that and what do you do to continue to nurture them and keep them as a hot prospect, so to speak?

Louise Henry (21:28):

Absolutely. Okay, so what I'm doing is when someone first joins my email list, then they're going to get that initial offer. But you're exactly right, only a small portion of people take me up on that offer. So what happens is when that expires, I'm like, stay tuned for the next event, whatever exciting thing is happening next. Then they just go on to my regular email list. So that's why the nurturing part of this, the continuously showing up, the new YouTube videos, the new emails. So I aim to send an email to my list every single week. With YouTube that's also my goal but sometimes I'm inconsistent. But that is also my goal. So at least the email though absolutely, absolutely goes out every single week. So we're still building that relationship. I'm still providing a ton of value for free and basically keeping myself as a business top of mind, even if they haven't purchased.

(22:33):

So that will go on. And then what I do to balance this all out is I host launches. So launches have just proven to be absolutely massive. I very much rely on them in the business. And so basically that is a second chance for any of those email subscribers that joined and maybe they weren't ready to jump into the product right away, that's absolutely fine. Then they go onto my email list, they might be there for another three months, six months, [inaudible 00:23:07]. Exactly. So then they are on my email list for a while, and then they'll see that I'm hosting a launch event. So I'll host live events, mostly challenges. I really like challenges. I think they're super fun. I can give people action steps and things to do and ways to get involved. I do live Q and As, and just stay on and answer any and all of the questions that are there. And just really try and make that event itself as awesome as I possibly can.

(23:37):

So we do that, and then at the end of the challenge, I'll present another special offer and it might be a little different as well because it's a live launch. So often I'll add on a few live Q and A calls with me or something like that. And so many people who said no to the initial offer end up purchasing during that launch. So because I have three courses, then that means I sort of have this rotating business. I have people coming in for my three different topics, and then I'm hosting these different launches and I'm rotating in between them. So my next one coming up is all about organization, all about Asana. I just wrapped up one that was all about making an online course and making sales in your sleep. And so I rotate in between those. And so collectively, that creates a really great system where I have my initial offer, I have my email list, I have the nurturing, and then I have the big launch events as well.

Sarah Jenkins (24:32):

So how many launches do you do a year?

Louise Henry (24:35):

About six. Every other month.

AJ Roberts (24:38):

Nice. That's good cadence.

Louise Henry (24:40):

So I've done such variations of this. Honestly, I've tried to figure it out. I've repeated the same one over and over. But for me it feels really good to do them more frequently and to rotate in between them also so that there's not too much pressure. When I was trying to do very limited launches, then I was so nervous before each one. And it really mattered how much revenue we would be able to bring in through that launch. So for me, it just feels better to just have these ongoing streams and things that are happening and more frequent, it feels better.

AJ Roberts (25:19):

And they can purchase at any time, but during the launch you have a special deal, whether that's a special price or additional bonuses I'm assuming from there. Do you have anything on the backend like post those courses with that, or is it just focused on the courses and is that the model?

Louise Henry (25:38):

So that's primarily been the model. Earlier this year, I launched a backend membership for those people that go through my online course course, which is called Passive Profit Accelerator. So I launched a backend membership for that because that transformation specifically of building an online course, of setting up your sales funnel, of launching, that's quite hard. And I've found that people once they know the information, they still want a lot of support and actually making that happen. And staying committed to all of these things that we're talking about, it's showing up, creating content, emailing your list, launching. So I created that, it's called Course Club. And people can only join that if they've first been through my online course and so they understand all these systems. They've set that up, then they can come for additional support to help scale their business.

AJ Roberts (26:34):

Very cool.

Sarah Jenkins (26:35):

What if somebody went to you and said, "I want your personal coaching and help starting from the beginning to go through all of your courses? I don't want to have to figure it all out myself."

Louise Henry (26:44):

It's not something I currently offer, but I would maybe consider it.

AJ Roberts (26:49):

The right price.

Louise Henry (26:50):

It's not something I do, right.

Sarah Jenkins (26:52):

The right person and price maybe.

AJ Roberts (26:54):

So obviously you've had a lot of clients, students go through your different programs. And you're really helping them move forward in their efforts to mimic what you are living, which is the digital nomad lifestyle or just the financial freedom. Could you kind of share one of your favorite success stories or stories of a client that you've been able to help? Because as an online educator the money is great, but really the value we get is from seeing the results of others.

Louise Henry (27:26):

It is the best feeling. If someone ever says, you've changed my life, I'm like, oh my God. That is the coolest thing that you could possibly hear. Okay, so I have a bunch. I've had people that said that we've been able to take them from total overwhelm to having all these dreams of, I want to launch a podcast. I want to have a course. And I've gone from just staying in dream mode to actually making them happen and to launching with 20 episodes already created, for example. So that's one of the common things we'll hear from my Asana course. I've also had people... A student just reached out recently and had just done a $42,000 launch, so I was proud of her for that. What happens a lot is I don't have any strategy that is like, you're going to get results instantly tomorrow.

(28:24):

So I just tell people, trust the process, keep going. A lot of this is all long game strategies, but they do work. And so you just have to see it through. You have to implement all of the steps. So the student came back and she was like, "You totally changed the trajectory of my business. It looks completely different. I just wrapped this 42K launch. I feel so much more confident in what I'm doing." So that was a really cool one that recently landed in my inbox.

Sarah Jenkins (28:51):

Oh yeah, you had to do all of the steps to learn when I'm looking through what you said about using video, and then bringing them in house and then sending that link to get their email, whatever. It's that you've learned everything and that you're making your students learn, so you're not just handing them the golden keys, they have to do the work too. And then once they've learned, it's like teach a man to fish. You're making them successful in the long term. And yeah, when someone comes up to us and says, you've changed my life or I've done this amazing thing, that's very humbling. And that's to us the best thing we can get from our customers.

AJ Roberts (29:24):

Yeah. I think what's interesting, and I'm kind of cluing in on why you've been so successful is because you are taking those things that most people don't talk about. When people talk about creating a course online, most people don't get into the technical side of all of that. And I think there is a lack of understanding of the amount of work it takes to be successful in anything you do, business especially. In digital business people think because the barrier to entry is $0 because you can start with social media and a PayPal account. You don't have to have Kartra or one of these other sites. You should, but you can make money before you ever have any of that. But I read a lot of old books, and one of the things I realized is almost every chapter or every subchapter could be its own book because it opens up the next question of how do I do that?

(30:17):

Which then opens up the question, well, how do I do those things? So if you say to someone like, oh, you need to know your customer avatar. Okay, well, how do I build a customer avatar? Okay, well, you need to know the demographics, the psychographic. Okay, well, how do I figure that out? When I have that information what does that mean? It means you now know how to communicate with a person. So how's shall I communicate? So saying you need a customer avatar and leaving them with that, they have to go search for those answers. And so as a leader, they might not attribute the results to you because yes, you're giving them a clue but they're having to go off on their own journey and probably hire another mentor, invest in another course or book or something like that. So I think that that's one of the things that probably has led to a lot of your success, is you've taken the hardest component to figure it out which is always the technical side of stuff. It's why all of our products exist because we're trying to make the process easier.

(31:11):

Every time you launch a website, well, we want to have website. Okay, well, we got to program that. It's like, what? So that's how everything is developed. Things have changed significantly just within the last five years, obviously. What are some of the biggest challenges you've faced during your time as an online entrepreneur?

Louise Henry (31:33):

Yeah. Well, being a tech educator you've just nailed my number one struggle that I'm currently in, is how fast it moves, how fast it changes. And so I constantly feel like I'm just trying to keep up with everything that is happening and everything is shifting. In terms of challenges, that has been it. That's been having the strategies and then having traffic change. When all the changes with Facebook ads were happening, just when you think, okay, I've got it all figured out and good then and element changes and you have to go back into it again. So yeah, that's been hard. I would say there's been a lot of challenges like that that I've realized, okay, now I have to figure something out again but it's okay.

AJ Roberts (32:24):

Or re-shoot content you shot because things change or there's a new thing and it's like, cool, this is better. But oh wait, I now have to go back and do read these three modules.

Louise Henry (32:36):

We have some amazing content where we tell people to go use content 1AWS or one or whatever. I was like, we can't release it anymore. We got to re-shoot the whole thing.

AJ Roberts (32:45):

So on the flip side of that, obviously there's been a lot of consistency, things that don't change. What are some of those things because I think people listening can say, technology is always going to change, there's always going to be variables? But what is kind of the core that you've held onto that that is the same now as it was then?

Louise Henry (33:04):

Yeah, I think the core is showing up for your people for free. Putting out free valuable content so that people can get to know you, that is really, really important. Having that initial entry point. I think that whether you're doing that on TikTok or YouTube or whatever, it doesn't really matter. I think that the visibility, the audience growth and nurture, both of those things, super, super important. Having some sort of direct connection to your customer which right now we're using an email list that might change in the future, but for now email list. So direct connection, showing up and then understanding people's problems and solving it for them. Coming up with solutions, and that's it. So that's why I never worry even like let's say something completely comes out for organization that is way better or something. I'm not actually worried about it because I'm like, okay, I can figure out a new problem. I can position a solution. So sort of once you do learn these skills, you realize how it can be applied in different ways.

Sarah Jenkins (34:18):

These are the marketing basics that we've all had to learn back in the day. And it comes down to what I see as principles. So you've got in your list of how you do what you do, you've got scarcity, you've got genuine connection and honesty about yourself and what you've learned. You've got these marketing basics down solid. I'm very impressed.

Louise Henry (34:38):

Thanks for that.

AJ Roberts (34:39):

Yeah. And I think on that note, what's interesting is if we look back at what you said, you're currently most of the time putting out one video a week on YouTube. Most of the time you're sending one email a week, and then you're doing six launches a year which obviously those are a little bit more intense, more frequent with the emails and things like that. And I've seen you'll take your videos and you'll put them on the other social media in short form. But when you look at the grand scheme of things, you're not doing 1,001 things. You are doing a few things consistently and then over time, I wouldn't call it compounding, but it's a snowball. It just continues to grow. And you've seen that, and I assume the business follows suit. As your YouTube grows, you get more views like, oh, we got more email subscribers. As you get more email subscribers, we've got more people showing up for the launch. As you get more people showing up for the launch, you inevitably sell more products.

Louise Henry (35:41):

Yeah, exactly. It's followed that exact formula, and it's funny. I think it's simple but it's not easy. So that's what people often get confused on but it is. And I've done so many circles and trying to figure it out and breaking things that is not broken yet I'm breaking it. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm just-

Sarah Jenkins (36:05):

We never do that.

AJ Roberts (36:09):

Yeah, I think that's the real secret none of us always want to share a lot is, it's messy. It's always messy. You are always figuring it out. When you think you got everything together, something inevitably goes wrong and you have to... You expect that. As you grow as an entrepreneur you're like, okay, what's the next big problem we're going to have to solve? And like you said, coming up with the solutions becomes the game that we're playing. Here's a little bit of a different question. Being a digital nomad with the freedom that you have to work anywhere, it also comes with the freedom to control your own schedule, the freedom to... So how do you balance work life because it's often easy when you get that freedom to not work?

(36:55):

It's often easy to get into a bad routine where you put that off and you do that, and obviously there's certain things that need to be done. So how have you found that journey and what do you do to manage it? You've mentioned you use Asana to manage projects, but how do you manage the overall freedom that you have? Because there's really no one telling you to do anything, when to do it, other than needing to make the money to continue to live the lifestyle there's not that much pressure.

Sarah Jenkins (37:25):

She might have ADD.

Louise Henry (37:29):

No, my husband does though. So yeah, it's really hard when you are in control of the schedule, it sounds-

Sarah Jenkins (37:37):

You're in control of the schedule.

Louise Henry (37:40):

Yeah, it sounds 100% good and then you realize, oh, this actually comes with its own set of challenges. For me I've had to be pretty routined honestly to get what I want done. And even the digital nomad I was, really living that lifestyle where I was moving around a lot but then I decided I want a home base. I want to for the majority of the year... Yes, I'll travel, but for the majority of the year I'm now home in Panama and I have my set routines. I have my yoga every Tuesday, Thursday, and that keeps me balanced and keeps me coming in and focused with work. I ended up kind of sticking to a regular schedule, like a regular 9:00 to 4:000 everyday schedule.

(38:36):

But I know as an entrepreneur if I'm not feeling it that day, I just take it off completely. Or even if you're having a bad day and you need to take it off, awesome. That's like the freedom that comes from this. I'll go to my favorite cafe. I keep it interesting for myself. But in order to get it all done and not just slack off or go to the beach, I've found that I had to adopt a routine and now it feels really good for me. And it just feels pretty natural.

Sarah Jenkins (39:04):

I like having a banana in a different country every week but they do taste the same.

AJ Roberts (39:10):

Yeah. It's interesting because I think as you get that freedom, you realize pretty quickly that if you don't have routine and a schedule, that it actually hurts you not helps you. And it's that saying discipline equals freedom. And that's really what it comes down to. And I've found as I've had these conversations with lots of different people, same thing. They have a home base, they have pretty routine schedule. They work between here and here. Some people it's certain hours of the day, some people it's blocked, but they take phone calls on Mondays and then they have different themes for the days. But at the end of the day, they realize you have to show up pretty much every day. It's okay to take time off, but work has to get done. And it usually is the first thing they get done so that then they could spend the rest of the day doing those different things.

(40:03):

But having things scheduled on a calendar seems to be every entrepreneur's nightmare until you have nothing to go on the calendar. And then you're like, okay, I actually need to... Okay, I'm going to write for these two hours. I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that. And it's been the only saving grace for me, because I'm one of those people if I see stuff on the calendar I freak out. But then if there's nothing there I'm like, what do I do? Oh, maybe I'll just go out for lunch and it's a two hour. So those are kind of some lessons I've learned. What about yourself?

Sarah Jenkins (40:33):

I love lunch. No, it's the same. So I think when you're looking to avoid your calendar, you're looking to avoid the having to live your life based on somebody else's values. But then once your calendar's clear, you're actually setting your own values and your own self-discipline is now guiding you, and it's much more powerful and a lot harder to deceive yourself. It's like I can't tell myself, you deserve this lunch. You worked really hard. When it's a day and I haven't done much, I'm like, ah, yeah, no lunch today.

Louise Henry (41:02):

Yeah. Well, and it's exactly what you said, discipline equals freedom. So because I've done that and made it more routine, well, that means I can totally take days off if needed. Or I can have my evenings completely free to do whatever I want or go on extended vacations and stuff like that. You can only do that if you have these systems in place and you've done the work ahead of time and you've scheduled it out and things like that.

Sarah Jenkins (41:28):

Four hour work week did not start out as four hours. It was probably 40, 80 hours a week until they got to that success path, and now it's four hours.

AJ Roberts (41:38):

What advice would you have for someone getting into online entrepreneurship if they're just starting their journey now?

Louise Henry (41:46):

If they're just starting, I would say work on developing your skillset, work on really understanding that. So dive in. Let's say someone is online and okay, I think I want to do something in video. It's like, okay, become a video editor and just study that. Become super good at that thing and you're going to start to find opportunities within it. So that's ultimately what I did, was just sort of jumped into it and then all the opportunities started to reveal themselves. So yeah, I think I would do that. I would really study marketing because you have to market your business. You have to. I do not consider myself a natural marketer at all. These are things I had to learn. Yeah, definitely didn't come naturally to me. I didn't want to mention my product that I had for sale, which is common for a lot of people.

(42:45):

So yeah, I think really learn that and start building your profile online. Really think of yourself as a brand and start to build that. And it doesn't have to be perfect, as you've heard from our conversation, it's going to be messy. It's going to have many different directions that you're going to go in. But I think if you can just start showing up there and in one particular area, you'll start to grow and you'll start to find what your next step is.

AJ Roberts (43:13):

What was that point... Like you said, you're not a natural marketer, but I don't think anybody listening to this podcast or if they went to your YouTube would think that. You're very natural on camera. You're very confident. You come across as someone who has an authoritative tone, but also compassion and loving. So what was the turning point for you? How did you go from someone who, like you said, was nervous even to sell your product because not a natural salesman to someone who's so comfortable, so confident and who's leading others?

Louise Henry (43:41):

Yeah. I honestly think it's just practice, which is kind of a boring answer. But just showing up and doing it and pushing through those periods. I would very much watch the video and be like, oh, that wasn't very good but I'm going to publish anyways because that's the level that I'm at right now. So we're just going to put it out there and check that off. We've done that and we're moving on. That has helped. And then also reframing sales. I really think I just had some negative beliefs about sales as many of us do. And so I learned a lot there that I fully attribute to mentors and just learning to reframe that and realizing how transformative it actually is for people if they sign up for something, if they commit to something and really take it seriously, versus just all the free content that they see online and often that people won't take action on.

(44:34):

So that really helped to understand that sales is a good thing. It is a good thing for you as an entrepreneur. You can do both. You can be helping tons of people and making really good money as well. It's not either or, it's both.

AJ Roberts (44:52):

Yeah, I always like to say money is kind of the byproduct of the value you put out. So everybody says, "Oh, I want to make this." And it's like, "Okay, great. Do you understand the value you have to put out there in order to make that income?" You don't meet many people who are making a million plus a year in income who aren't doing that in valuable worth. And you have to shift your mindset on that sometimes because what is valuable is not hours for dollars. And you learned that, that's what created your transition. And now you see that with your clients because you're not there actually walking them through personally, your courses are doing that. But then they get the same outcome as if you were there. So you see those results and it's like this has that value because let's say... I don't know what you charge for your courses, what's the average price?

Louise Henry (45:43):

Around $1000.

AJ Roberts (45:43):

Yeah, 1000 bucks for a course, and I go through that and it allows me to launch my product and I make 100,000 in the first year. Well, that 1000 is a very minimal investment. It's a big ROI. You're not going to get that on a stock exchange. You're not going to get that on crypto. So people never think of it like that. And I think it's important for them to think of those things through those lenses. And also what you said about you looked at it and you weren't happy, but you published anyway. I think that is really, really, really key. You have to... Good is good enough, and you have to publish. If that's what you got, that's what you got. But you were taking notes, what can I do better? But you didn't go back, oh, I got to re-shoot this. You said, okay, publish that, next video I'll make... And probably every video got slightly better until you got to the point you are now, where I'm sure you shoot and you don't even need to look at it because you're like, yeah, that's a good one.

Louise Henry (46:38):

Yeah. So I left up all of my YouTube videos so people can just go sort them by the oldest and you'll see the progression. And it's definitely just over time I think I've gotten more comfortable and I imagine that I'm talking to a friend, like there's a real person on the other side of this and then that allowed it to feel a lot more natural.

Sarah Jenkins (46:59):

Great. And we've had some of those talks about if you did have all this stuff out there for free that people wouldn't value it as much. When you've put your money out there and you've purchased it, then you're going to put in more of the effort of learning it, paying attention, taking notes, all that stuff. So you see it's easy then to sell your value because you understand what they're going to get and how it's going to benefit them.

Louise Henry (47:17):

Yeah, exactly.

AJ Roberts (47:18):

Absolutely. Anything you're excited about or things you're looking forward to in the future around the business and what you're doing?

Louise Henry (47:26):

Yeah, so I am using the online business right now to fund my big dream project, which I've had for a really long time which was to launch a nonprofit here in Panama. So yeah, when you ask me about the discipline and stuff, I've very much had the big vision for a long time. One of which was to move away from the cold in Canada, move to a tropical place on the beach.

AJ Roberts (47:57):

She's almost lost her accent as good as you, but it comes out on a few words.

Sarah Jenkins (48:06):

Almost? I don't know what you're talking about.

AJ Roberts (48:07):

That one. That was good.

Louise Henry (48:14):

That was good. Yeah, so that was very much a huge dream. Having the beach house, waking up to the ocean every day was like that kept me motivated for 10 years. So I got that, which is exciting. I am looking at it right now which is awesome. But the next dream was to move my little brother, Tim, move him down to Panama to live here and live that. It's a really outdoorsy life. Obviously. We're outdoors all the time, and to live that life and to set him up for his future. So that's the next goal. So the nonprofit is for people with autism and it's called Tim's Club. My brother's name is Tim. And yeah, it's going to be a Specialized Day program. And that's where he will go Monday to Friday along with a lot of other people in the community. And so it's this massive project basically that we're building out right now, and so I'm really excited.

Sarah Jenkins (49:08):

That is so cool. Congratulations. That's huge. That's your whole heart, aw.

Louise Henry (49:13):

Yes.

AJ Roberts (49:14):

Perfect. Louise, where can people go to find more about you and what you're up to?

Louise Henry (49:21):

Super simple. Louisehenry.com., Louise Henry on YouTube, and Louise Henry on Instagram.

AJ Roberts (49:28):

Yeah. She's everywhere folks, you can find her. Use Google if you can. Louise, thanks so much for being a guest on the show. It's been an absolute pleasure. I can't wait to talk to you again. Thanks everyone for listening. We'll see you on the next episode of the Pay to Create Podcast. I just have to tell you about Kartra, the marketing platform that has seriously transformed my business. You know how running a business can be insanely time-consuming, right? Well, Kartra has been a game changer for me. It's honestly like having an entire marketing team in my pocket. And what I love most is that it automates all the tedious daily tasks for me, from marketing to sales, to even customer experience.

(50:03):

I can't believe how much time and energy I've saved since I started using it. And get this, with Kartra I can create websites, funnels, courses, membership sites, email campaigns, calendars, surveys, you name it. It's made managing my business so much simpler and more affordable. Honestly, I can't recommend Kartra enough. If you're curious, head to Paytocreatepodcast.com/kartra to start your trial. Trust me, you won't regret it.