Kathryn Calhoun is a business coach who helps entrepreneurs DIY the tech in their online businesses. After working as a freelance copywriter and online business manager, she noticed many of her clients were struggling with technology. So, she decided to take the leap and create a membership program that would demystify “the techie stuff” and make it accessible for everyone.
56,159 total leads generated | Grew her email list by 24x from one event
Today, Kathryn offers multiple programs that help entrepreneurs build their businesses and get eyes on their projects, even if they’re not tech-savvy.
Kathryn has always had an entrepreneurial mindset, which led her to pursue a degree in business. After she graduated she knew she wanted to start her own business, but she wasn’t sure what that would be. So, while she plotted her next move she took a job as a dancer on cruise ships.
The only problem was it was contract work, which meant she was often unemployed for large stretches of the year. Eventually, she started working as a freelance copywriter which allowed her to not only make an income in her downtime, but also take her projects with her when she was out at sea.
What Kathryn noticed was that her clients often needed help with more than just copywriting. She couldn’t, in good conscience, only provide them copywriting services when there was a missing tech piece that would limit their results. So she expanded her services to include digital assistant work and business management.
Changing directions
With Kathryn’s services in high demand, it didn’t take long for her client list to fill up. Like any entrepreneur, she wanted to grow her business, which for her meant taking on more work and raising her rates. However, she reached a point where her schedule was maxed out and her income was hitting a ceiling.
She realized she needed to take her business in a new direction and find a way to productize her skills, rather than trading time for money. Kathryn also knew it had to be something she was passionate about—otherwise she wouldn't have the patience and fortitude to keep going when things eventually got tough.
“If you have the entrepreneurial bug sometimes you can get excited by any idea, even if it’s not something you’re personally interested in. But what I found is those businesses didn’t have any staying power. Not because they were bad ideas, but because they weren’t connected to what I was passionate about.”
Becoming a tech teacher
When Kathryn looked at the work she was doing for her clients, what she found was that she loved helping them with the technology side of their business. There was also a clear need for this kind of training.
Despite having great ideas for their businesses, many of her clients thought they weren’t smart enough to start an online business, simply because they didn’t understand the tech.
“I really saw people struggling with this element of their businesses, but if you’re going to start an online business the tech is non-negotiable. You can’t side-step that no matter how much you want to.”
Worse yet, she found the tech instruction that was out there was really lacking. Many of the available resources simply suggested they contract the work out to a digital assistant. The problem with this is if you hire a contractor to do a job, but you don’t understand the work they’re doing, how do you know they’re doing a good job?
With this in mind, Kathryn set out to create a program that would help entrepreneurs (even those who weren’t tech-savvy) become more confident using the digital marketing tools required to build their business.
Growing her list with Leadpages
Kathryn knew what she wanted to teach—all she needed was some students. She started with a small launch that her friends helped her promote which yielded 45 leads but no sales. This was a bit of a slow start, but it didn’t discourage her.
"In the beginning, when we were struggling to get the business off the ground, there was never a thought in my head like 'what if this doesn’t work?' It was just 'this has to work.'"
So, she decided to go bigger and organize a telesummit which would feature presentations from a variety of digital marketing experts. To promote the summit, she created an opt-in page using Leadpages’ landing page builder and invested the money she had left into driving traffic to the page.
The move paid off. Kathryn ended up growing her email list from 45 to just shy of 1,100. With a large body of leads to draw from, her membership program flourished and her business was off and running.
Her sales have continued to grow every year and she’s now reached multiple six figures in earnings—all while helping other entrepreneurs achieve their dreams as well.
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Challenges
When Kathryn was looking for software solutions for her business she wasn’t just looking for herself—she also needed to find tools she could recommend to her students. As such, there were four key challenges she needed her software to solve:
Ease of use: The tool needed to be accessible and easy to understand, even for those who weren’t experienced with digital marketing.
Excellent customer service: No matter how easy a piece of software is to use, users will always have questions. This is why effective and friendly customer support was very important to Kathryn.
Ability to integrate: There’s no such thing as a true all-in-one digital marketing solution, so any tool she used needed to play nice with others.
Price point: Both Kathryn and her students were on a budget, so the software they chose needed to be affordable.
How Leadpages helped
User-friendly interface
Leadpages makes it easy for anyone to build a landing page or website. All Kathryn had to do was choose a professionally-designed template, use the no-code Drag & Drop Builder to customize the page, and click “publish”.
Exceptional support team
Known for some of the best customer support in the industry, Leadpages prides itself on going above and beyond for its users. Whenever Kathryn ran into an issue, a Leadpages team member was there to walk her through it.
“The Leadpages team is amazing. We’ve never had a negative experience with a Leadpages customer support person.”
Endless integrations
Leadpages offers over 90 native integrations, with over 2,000 more integrations available via Zapier. This meant that Kathryn didn’t have to worry about the software not working with her other digital marketing tools.
Going from 45 to nearly 1,100 leads after one event
Kathryn used Leadpages to create an opt-in page for her first telesummit, and this single page resulted in over 1000 leads, growing her list by an impressive 24x.
Over 56,159 leads generated
Since that first opt-in page, she’s used Leadpages to find another 55,000 leads for her business.
How Kathryn uses Leadpages
Landing pages
Kathryn uses Leadpages for both her opt-in pages and sales pages. The easy-to-use Drag & Drop Builder means she can quickly create high-converting pages whenever she has a new idea or offer.
Websites
In addition to landing pages, Kathryn also used Leadpages to build her affiliate program website. This allowed her to create an attractive website that suited her brand without having to hire an expensive developer.
What’s next for Kathryn?
Kathryn plans to continue to grow her business by automating more of her offerings. One way she’s doing this is by creating more evergreen courses that can be offered throughout the year with less hands-on involvement from her.
We look forward to seeing what the future holds for both Kathryn and her business!
Try Leadpages free for 14 days
Easily create your website and landing pages with the only platform engineered by marketing nerds.
