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How Alua Arthur Helps Thousands of Students Rethink Death

Mar 28, 2023

Alua Aruthur's unconventional founder journey started on a bus in Cuba. Soon after she was diagnosed with depression clinical and ending her career in law, Alua found herself sitting with a traveler who had terminal uterine cancer. She had no idea what was going to happen when the conversation took place between their lives would impact the direction of her life for ever.

"I have asked her a myriad of questions about death -- the type of questions that you wouldn't have to ask someone you don't know, however she was so honest to me. We spoke for hours about the things she was afraid of, the things she was afraid to leave behind, and what she wished she would have done differently during her lifetime," Alua recalls.

"Coming away from the conversation, I kept wondering why I hadn't engaged in a meaningful conversation concerning death throughout my 34 years of living. The more I thought about it the more I was like"I'm going to change this.'"

Upon returning home to after returning to the United States, Alua threw herself into finding ways of helping people through the process of preparing for their death. Coming from a law background and a law degree, she was aware that she did not want to go to social work or medicine. Though psychology wasn't the career she was looking for but she was able to decode the code her desire to study a course that was focused on death and spirituality. However, shortly after her graduation the brother of her became seriously ill.

"I was able to support him through the last two months of his life. I was there every day, day out -- in the living room and lying on the floor and sleeping, running errands, picking people up from the hospital taking medications as well as doing research," she says.

"I found myself feeling ever more dissatisfied that there was nobody I could call that had these questions for us, or even someone not in our circle of support who could acknowledge the difficulties we're going through was. In those times, I was convinced that if I couldn't find it, I'd have to make it."

This realization was the catalyst for Moving with Grace, a funeral doula education and end-of-life plan organization which aims to improve and redefine the end-of-life experience using individual life experiences as the basis.

Alua has accepted over 1,800 students to her 'End of Life Education program', and has gathered over 15,000 newsletter subscribers, and generated $2.5 million in sales. Here's how she did it.

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She turned her own experience into her company's mission

Since day one, Alua has been intentional regarding her decision to allow Going With Grace to originate from her personal experience. Alua believes that despite the fact that some people attempt to distinguish the personal and professional from each other, they're one and one.

"How you present yourself at home will reflect on how you show up in your professional lives. This has always been a very personal goal that I set out to address what I been struggling with through the death process. The idea of Going With Grace was born out from that ."

Alua's own experience enabled her to walk in her customer's shoes in a unique way -she was able to understand the needs of her audience before they discovered her service.

"The end-of-life process is so lonely. My goal was to ensure that people don't be a burden while working through the challenges. It's hard enough, even if you have top doctors and an excellent support systemIt's overwhelming ."

The author continues: "The mission of Going with Grace is to assist individuals answer the question "What should I do in order in order to feel at peace with myself so that I may live presently and live my life with grace? Whatever the answers of someone's, we support them -Sometimes it's about healing relationships or talking through their fears of death, sometimes it's looking for the values that they want to live their lives by. We're focusing on that ."

The message she sent was always her personal, organic messaging

When it came to translating her unique message into a commercial campaign, Alua stuck to her origins. She built her online presence with one goal in mind that was to give permission for other people to speak about death and grief in an authentic way.

"When I realized that this kind of space wasn't there and I wanted to make it happen because I knew that someone else was searching for it. It could be one in a million however, surely someone had experienced something similar to my experience," she says.

"As as a consequence of this idea my marketing came about organically, and I think it's the reason people connected with the message so strongly."

Yet Alua recognized that her natural messages could only go as far without consistency.

"When there is an igniting of something inside someone's soul, that's something. The magnitude of the spark is not up to the person who ignited it, but it's up to you to help ignite that flame. If you're constantly passionate and authentically discussing similar topics, in time they'll come to ."

  During her initial rollout, Alua was also able to appreciate the importance of having an authentic and authentic persona. At first, she wasn't aware that she had a image in the public eye, but by finding her personality it was possible to level up her credibility and credibility.

"One important element of branding and marketing is staying true to who you are. I'm not a gentle, slack-talking human being. Yet, people frequently think that we should be quiet and avoid issues of death and dying. By being unapologetically myself I was able to attract my peers ."

The first time she did this, Alua started posting one-minute videos on social media that delved into her personal experience, her mission statement, as well as her online course that she was starting to develop. In the blink of an eye, Alua had pre-sold 57 subscriptions, before she even started building the course. In addition, her 400-strong email list started growing exponentially.

"I really believed that perhaps 10 people would register. In that moment, I realized I actually had to commit to this ."

She clarified her course outline in an actionable way

After establishing her audience, Alua started to wrap her head around the difficult task of creating her very first online course -- 'The Art of Dying'. As with many course designers, she formed a skeletal structure that she crafted module by module.

"It was really beneficial to reflect on the various blocks of information my students needed at certain points throughout the course. I'd think"Here's the foundation. This is the next step. If we're here What do we require in order to get there?" It is important to keep the course's overall goal in mind. Then, cut the lessons into bite-sized chunks," she explains.

This framework eventually took form in an actionable way -it was a practical framework - Alua was able to break the course down into three fundamental segments. The initial segment is the basis of "What do funeral doulas actually accomplish? What is the role of medicine? What are signs of dying? Are there any reasons to pay attention to your own demise? The second section focuses on the natural aspects of death and funeral home logistical issues, as well as funeral legacies and ceremonies. The third segment integrates all of these elements into practice.

  Alua has developed a variety of classes using this model that have been completed with a completion rate at 76% and overall ratings of 4.9 stars. The instructor believes that nothing would be possible without .

" is the one thing that really helped me realize my idea. When I first started out I searched for a long time to find an online platform for courses, and none of them was accessible or easy enough. It's a shame that I'm an analog person I'm not sure how to alter the ringtone of my mobile However, it's not just simple, but highly effective. It's how we got to where we are today." she claims.

She has incorporated her own voice into her courses

Apart from rolling out this effective course structure, Alua has been intentional about allowing her personal style to influence her online course offerings.

"I tell a lot of tales about clients I've dealt with, so that my students can learn about the practice live. I'm very clear about speaking directly to cameras, and I refrain from keeping my personal life in the shadows," she says.

"I believe my video courses could be beautiful snapshots into the present of what I do and my identity as an individual. I published 'The Art Of Dying' in 2018 and four years from now the course could be entirely different person from the one I was back then. Therefore, when creating my programs, I stay away from marrying myself to what I feel in the moment and also allowing myself to hold on to what the future might be. ."

She prioritized community while diversifying her revenue streams

Alua has placed a great emphasis on celebrating community, within and beyond her structure of courses. Utilizing the strength in study group, she's successfully increased the revenue streams she earns.

"One among the most appealing aspects about our programs is that we offer all the materials online. But then we also have regular group study sessions in which participants discuss topics on Zoom in real-time. It allows them to answer the questions they ask in a way that will keep them interested however, it also helps to build a stronger sense of community. They get close to each other, they build relationships -- ultimately, I've just been creating space for them to do the things they're naturally inclined to do anyway ."

She continues: "I'm simply following the breadcrumbs where they already exist. One of my students was married not that long ago, and seven people from their online course were in attendance. To me, that shows the real power of our work. ."

Apart from her online education, Alua has created various community-driven initiatives to support her model of business.

"Another important aspect of our revenue stream is our Death Doula Den -- it's a community of members where members meet to discuss death and dying. We also have distinct Zoom calls where we talk about "hot topics" as well as provide assistance in this is how," she says.

"Ultimately, we have communities for those who are seeking services themselves, and communities that are seeking to learn how to offer services to the public at large."

She overcame the main hurdle course creators face

When looking at Going With Grace's progress up to this point, Alua is very transparent about the struggles she's had to conquer various hurdles throughout her course creator journey yet the struggles she has faced have helped make her more resilient on an individual and professional scale.

"The most significant leap I've done was to press the "Publish" button on my first course. My heart broke when I pressed the button. The only thing I thought of was"Oh my God What have I done? What do I believe I really am? Why would I make a decision like this? ?'"

  In the present, a few years later, Alua has a few tips she'd give herself at that point:  

"The ideal thing to do is silence the voices that say, "It's impossible.  You're not worthy. You're not worthy. You're not sure what you're doing.' Dismiss those thoughts and push on because somebody is out there who has what you can give. You should take the plunge and be prepared that it's not going to be perfect It's likely to be extremely messy and embarrassing review in the next few years. But it's a million times better than absolutely nothing. ."

Inspired by Alua's story about the development of a profitable online-based course company? Ready to take the leap your own way? Sign up for and start now.