Triathlete's knowledge commerce journey goes from coaching to courses to membership community

A doctorate degree in exercise physiology, conducting research that is peer-reviewed, as well as coaching Olympians and professional Ironman athletes was not enough for Dr. Dan Plews. Additionally, he is a triathlete himself and is the current Ironman Age Group World Championship Course Winner record holder with an 8:24:36 time.
As a result of the victory and his extensive education on the subject, he got tons of inquiries, particularly about his lower carbohydrate diet and how to apply it to long-distance triathlons.

Then the Dr. Plews decided to monetize his knowledge with Endure IQ and added 'knowledge creator' to his list of occupations. Let's explore his journey.

This interview has been slightly edited to improve clarity.

Coaching rapidly led to courses

In the beginning, initially, Dr. Plews started out with one-on-one coaching. He acknowledged that there was what he was able to do with one-on-one sessions.

In 2019, Endure IQ got its launch. "I had so many [questionswhich I thought I'd just put this into an online course. At first, I thought, 'Oh, I'll just build a simple white course that you can put on PowerPoint'. Then, I talked to a close friend who said, 'Well, if you're going do this and you're going to do it, why not take it seriously.'"

There are now four core courses, as well as mini-courses. Dr. Plews says, "Our classes are 10 modules in length and take 10 to 15 hours of education. The students have access to the course to the course for a time period of 10 to twelve weeks and access to instructors." The courses are accredited through affiliations with The American College of Sports Medicine, National Strength and Conditioning Association as well as USA Triathlon.

Courses take off

EndureIQ launched a pre-launch of their course, LDT One-on-One. "We declared that we would be limiting it to only 50 people at first, and it was sold out within three minutes," Dr. Plews recalls.

The classes were extremely popular! But, the response was overwhelming. The Dr. Plews quickly learned his class students would be interested in keeping access to the materials as well as the webinars led by instructors after finishing the course.

He was faced with the dilemma of having to offer ongoing support. The following is his thoughts on this subject:

"I didn't want to have the course open indefinitely as it would give people the opportunity to ask questions all the time that is at your at your fingertips but that's not the way education works. When you're an undergraduate student when you enroll in a course, you get access to your instructors, the experts throughout the course, but you don't get the right to have them answer your questions throughout your existence."

Generating revenue

So, Dr. Plews discovered a way to meet customer demand while generating recurring revenue using the same course material. The solution was a $5 per week fee for access to the course materials and webinars to those who complete the course.

"I have added this service almost immediately. It's a great choice since we've got a large number of repeat customers,"" He explains.

The price is $5 per week for each course the student ever took in order to reward loyalty to those who enroll in multiple courses. Dan reported having 175 students within the education community at the time of our interview. Thus, he is able to generate a considerable quantity of income each week simply by opening up access to the course material and being willing to reply to inquiries.

Subscription revenue opens doors

Now, the subscription brings an increase in revenues, and this revenues in turn creates new possibilities for the business.

Dr. Plews says, "The biggest pro to having an online business that is subscription-based is the ability to plan your business better. If you are certain of additional revenue it is possible becoming a little more knowledgeable about the company you're using and where you're putting your money because you're less at risk. Whereas when you're one hundred per cent dependent on the new sales, you never know what each month is going to provide."

The author also pointed out that the existence of an active community has another benefit - it provides a pool of active members who could survey to find out about the creation of new courses, or any other information.

However, Dan is realistic about the requirements to sustain an active membership group. "The cons are that it's never off," he says, "There is quite a lot of support for customers that is part of subscriptions because customers constantly have questions."

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