A Simple Solution to Selling Workshops

Back in August, I wrote about Occam’s Razor and a simple solution to launching projects. In fact, Occam’s Razor is something I write about regularly.

And it’s because I’m an over-thinker who’s trying really hard not to be. I spend too much time thinking through implementations, finding the perfect tools, and doing it once. But the beauty of the web is that we can iterate. Plan enough to launch, and then continue to work on it. And with my latest solution to a new project, I think I’m finally learning.

I Want to do More Paid Workshops

While working out my goals for this year, I added more paid workshops and webinars to my list of income streams. I want people to be able to sign up, get the workshop and the replay, and learn something tangible.

And as a WordPress developer, it’s easy to think, “Oh I can put this whole thing on WordPress.” But I’ve been actively deciding against WordPress for things like this, for the reasons I outlined in a recent newsletter. I want to move quickly and not spend time “setting things up.” So instead I made a list of requirements and determined that I could get it done with 2 tools: ConvertKit and Zoom.

The Requirements

So, what are the requirements?

1. Allow users to sign up for my mailing list from the homepage
2. Allow users to click on a single workshop and pay for it
3. Once they pay, add them to a list of all people who registered for that workshop
4. Include members in that list because they will get the workshops for free
5. Host the workshop on a platform that only paying people can access
6. Record the workshop
7. Sell the replay
8. Point a custom domain

Optional: Coupon code support for members.

ConvertKit Does Nearly All of This

The winner, by a landslide, is ConvertKit for everything except the actual video part of the workshop. It allows me to quickly make a landing page with email optin, make a list of products, and point a subdomain.

It supports online payments, as a one-time, or subscription-based fee. It also tags customers on a per-product basis, so I will know who bought what workshop, and each workshop an individual purchased.

Inside ConvertKit, I can send emails that target people who only bought a particular product. These are called segments. AND I can combine segments, so that members also get the email.

I can also automatically deliver the replay after the fact, as a private link or a digital download.

The only thing I haven’t seen yet is coupon code support, and it’s a bit of a moot point because I can include members in the emails already.

Zoom for Delivery

For delivering the video, I think I will go with Zoom (standard) for at least the first workshop. That means I won’t have all the fancy webinar features, but that’s OK. As long as people can watch, and engage in the chat, I’m fine with the standard features.

And of-course Zoom can record everything, which I can then send via Dropbox or Vimeo.

If I every feel like I need more seats (a good problem to have) or more features, I will explore my options then. Right now, I’ll use what I have.

The Simplest Solution

In the past, I’ve evaluated webinar platforms, looking for the affordable yet complete solution. And then I ended up doing nothing.

The simplest solution is using what you have to see what you need. You can make things easier if you don’t know what’s hard, and you can’t optimize if you don’t know the process.

So this is what I’ll be doing to launch my workshops series at first. Join the mailing list below to get notified of when the first one is happening.

Oh…and if you want a BTS video of me building the site, you can become a member.