What Millie Adrian Made $400K by Training aspiring social Media Influencers
Millie Adrian is on a mission to teach new social media influencers on how to earn money from Instagram.
Her love for content creation started young; in 2008, she started her own YouTube channel along with her younger brother. The channel lasted for nine years. "It was for enjoyment," she says. "We produced random videos, skits, mock-ups and tried out various ways to live our lives. ."
After she got a new corporate job during her early 20s and was bored with the artistic outlet that making videos gave her -- so they convinced her to take on Instagram blogging on the side of her regular 9-5. She positioned herself as a lifestyle blogger , and published "anything and everything," sharing photos related to fashion, food, travel, coffee, wine, books, and even her pet.
Her account, @itsmodernmillie, quickly increased in popularity and before long, she was receiving all kinds of questions from the people who follow her. They wanted to know how she was growing, why she captured specific images as well as how she managed to get such a high level of engagement. In order to provide her fans with the most accurate answers possible, she decided to launch another YouTube channel. Then, the teaching of Instagram turned into her specialization.
See this article on Instagram
A blog post that was shared by Millie Tips for Content Creators (@itsmodernmillie)
"My YouTube was growing as did my Instagram was growing and this created this whole snowball effect of helping more people," she explains. "I was just going to determine which one took off before deciding to go with the one that had been successful. But they really just connected naturally ."
In October of 2019, she quit her job at a corporate company and began to become a full-time content creator. In the past year, she's built an Instagram following that is 117K. She also has the YouTube channel has 246K followers, andhaving launched online courses in 2021 -- enrolled 600 students and generated more than $400,000 USD. "Next year, I'd like to earn seven figures," she says beaming.
Here are the 10 ways she earned more than six figures during her initial 16 months of selling her courses:
Skip ahead:
- She listened to her instincts
- She has launched three courses
- She did market research to figure out the right pricing
- She created her content in response to what her target audience desired
- She continues to improve the learning experience for her students.
- She was very generous in her knowledge
- The designer created a basic sales funnel
- The instructor offered freebies with each of the courses.
- She fought off burnout
- She stays consistent
Her gut instinct was the one she followed
In her job, Adrian created content for Instagram as well as Youtube during the weekend. It was a way to rekindle her sense of creativity, as she began to crave more time for it.
While she loved working from 9 to 5 however, she noticed an unsettling "gut sense" of knowing she was meant to go on. "I could not sleep as the inside of me told me I had the potential to dream even bigger," she shares. "I knew there was an opportunity for me to be a part of something bigger than the ."
The decision was made to leave when she had consistently earned at least half of what she earned at her current corporate job through content creation. "Everyone will have their different non-negotiables for that change," she says.
After achieving this target, she quit her job and entered the world of self-employment in October 4th, 2019. With the support of her followers and an abundance of time, she decided that the next step of her adventure was to create an the creation of an online course.
She also launched three courses
Now, Adrian has three courses: The Modern Influencer, the course with the highest price priced at $997 USD. Email List 101, which is her middle-ticket course priced at $297 USD, as well as The Reels Roadmap, which is her cheapest course with a price of $197 USD. All of her courses teach individuals how to become an online content creator However, The Modern Influencer is the one she focuses on most.
At first, the company called The Modern Influencer that was launched in the month of July in 2021 started as a six-week group coaching session for $597. After that, she was able to transform the course into a one-on-one, three-month coaching service. But Adrian quickly realized that she didn't have the ability to train hundreds of people one-on-one. She decided to turn"The Modern Influencer into a pre-recorded course instead.
When looking for the right online course hosting platform, she was drawn to ; she'd taken a number of online courses, while a student was her most-loved.
"From the student's perspective it's the simplest approach to learning, and also the most simple."
Along with selling three classes, she offers extra resources that she sells during checkout in order to boost revenue, such as Pitch Email Templates, Pitch Slide Deck Template as well as a Media Kit Guide, and 100plus caption ideas.
She conducted market research in order to find the most appropriate pricing
In the case of pricing The Modern Influencer, she did market research; she was interested in knowing what other creators were charging for similar courses. She also she compared her course to what they were offering. "I looked at what they were teachingand then the subjects I taught more about," she says.
"I couldn't locate a class that covered the use of Instagram as well as brand collaborations, and mine bundled the two together," continues Adrian. "That's what allowed me to determine the appropriate price ."
She created her content based on what her audience desired
Adrian designed her courses, not just based on what she wanted to instruct and what programs were not available.
She asked the audience what percentage of them took a class on Instagram, and what information they would have liked to know but weren't. Next, she created The Modern Influencer's syllabus by "brain-dumping" everything she knew into sticky-notepads. "The table was an utter mess of sticky notes," she laughs.
She organized the sticky notes beginning with A to Z. They covered everything needed for somebody to transition from being completely ignorant about Instagram to being a full-time creator of content. Each A to Z subject became modules, and others became lessons. Although she claims that the class is predominantly focused on Instagram, it's constantly evolving each year as she adds more and new lessons. In addition, she could see the course expanding to include lessons on YouTube and TikTok, since that's what her audience is looking for.
All of her courses are taught using a variety of mediums; she rotates between her videos, her speaking slideshows, slide presentations, and screen recordings. "It will depend on the topic and how I think the student will best digest the information," she says.
Plus, her content is all pre-recorded. There is no live portion except for the occasional Q&A session which she holds on her Facebook page.
She continually improves her students' experiences
The group on Facebook is where The Modern Influencer students are added. Members have lifetime access to the group. It also offers a forum where they are able to ask them questions regarding the creation of content.
Aside from the group on Facebook and the Facebook group, she's been playing about with various strategies to keep people interested in The Modern Influencer; she's currently considering developing a Modern Influencer certification to show they've taken the course and are certified influencers. In addition, she'd like to link those who have completed the certification to brand deals with a PR checklist. "I don't want to be an agency, but I want to give people the next step to take," she says.
Additionally, she wants to offer her students the chance to become affiliates for the course, meaning that Adrian will offer students a portion of the course price by referring other students. "Those are just a couple of suggestions we're exploring, and we'd like to come up with solid strategies next year," she says.
She was generous with her expertise
Her target audience are aspiring influencers - that is, people who create content and want to become the face of their online brand.
"I am not a business or anyone who isn't looking to be into the spotlight as a majority of the strategies I use involves creating an emotional connection with your viewers on camera" she declares.
Like her students, making Adrian's public audience a reality required her to step beyond her comfortable zone yet, as she says, "you don't grow from areas of comfort."
She claims she developed her following by investing in herself and her studying. "For many years, I was taking those free webinars and analyzing what other people were doing," she says. "I instantly noticed a change after I bought online classes that could give me the results I was looking for. ."
The most important thing she can do to assist content creators in building their following is to share what they want to teach She strongly believes that creators should not be guardians of information.
"Don't be afraid to share the information you have, and give away the knowledge you have.Once I told myself'screw it I'm going to teach everything I had learned without any intention to get paid I was able to find my audience."
The designer created a basic sales funnel
Instead of being intimidated by elaborate sales funnels, Adrian decided to keep it easy.
In the months leading up to when she launched The Modern Influencer, she created a waitlist using an Google form. She then posted the URL on her site along with all of her social media sites. When she finally launched the course, she was greeted by a warm audience of people waiting to receive her confirmation email.
She recommends that course creators stay clear of funnels that scare the audience. Instead, she advises that they develop a basic funnel such as a waitlist so that they are able to create leads and get people eager to buy their courses after it's been launched.
She gave away freebies to each course
Now, Adrian's sales funnel is more comprehensive and she provides free tools that are in line with her programs. "When people download the offer or takes part in it, they're then put in an automated email system where it'll upsell them eventually by sending them emails" Adrian explains.
For The Modern Influencer, she offers a webinar of 60 minutes which teaches the 100-day Instagram plan -which is i.e. what people must do to reach 10,000 followers and make $1000 within 100 days. At the end of the free course, participants are upsold the program.
In The Email List 101 course, there is a cost-free, ten-page download that teaches individuals how to begin, grow and serve an email list. In addition, for The Reels Roadmap course, the course is free and will help people to boost the number of views, attract attention and help their reels be viewed by millions of people.
She overcame burnout
Even though Adrian's enterprise is growing rapidly but it has come at the cost of her mental well-being.
Although she had the job of her dreams however, she was caught up in the pattern of working too much. "I did my best to be at work every moment of the working day." her statement reads.
In the aftermath of suffering from burning out and panic attacks throughout the months following her first course launch and she decided to employ an assistant to handle the administration of her business. "If I don't create the content for my company, it dies," she explains.
She now has a digital business manager, a funnel strategist, an engagement and community specialist and a virtual assistant video editors, a brand collaborations manager, an SEO person, and a Pinterest manager. After bringing on a team, she's create more personal and professional boundaries around the self-care she takes. The result? A greater freedom to concentrate on creating content rather than becoming a weed. "I've had to learn a lot about myself to not hit these tipping points," she says.
She is consistent
One of the most important aspects that Adrian learned throughout her journey of creating content -as well as her burnout experiences -was that it's a marathon, not a race. She recommends that other creators apply this mindset, too, especially in getting rid of burnout and building businesses that last.
"You're in it for the long run," she explains. "You do not need to be seeing outcomes right away or require instant gratification."
In actual fact, she suggests entrepreneurs to focus on their company every day, in tiny, bite-sized pieces. "It doesn't have to all be done at the same time," she adds. "This is the long-term game. If this is what you're looking to accomplish improve your performance by 1% every day. When you focus on it by focusing on one aspect at a over the course of three years, you'll see far more success than any other person trying to accomplish it all at once ."
So far, her most notable accomplishment is obtaining her YouTube Play Button -- an honor given to one of one of the most popular YouTube channels. "It was the most complete moment of my journey," she tells us and smiles. "I would love to return in time to say to 12 year old Millie that the dreams that she had in her head might come true. ."
Another thing she wishes that she had the time to remind herself to believe in the process. To other aspiring online creators she suggests they focus on the results of slow, constant growth. "Don't consider the time it takes to complete your work," she advises.
Join the Newsletter to get more Creator Story ideas.