The Way Millie Adrian Made $400K by Instructing Aspiring Social Media Influencers
Millie Adrian is on a mission to teach future social media influencers how to earn money from Instagram.
Her passion for creating content began early; in 2008 she launched a YouTube channel along with her younger brother, which lasted 9 years. "It was all fun," she says. "We made random videos, skits, jokes and also tried various life hacks ."
After she got a new corporate job during her early 20s, she missed the creative opportunity that video-making gave her -- so much so that she decided to try her hand at Instagram blog on top of her work. She promoted herself as a lifestyle blog and published "anything and everything," posting photos about food, fashion, travel as well as wine, coffee books and her dog.
Her account, @itsmodernmillie, quickly grew and soon she was being asked various questions from her followers. People wanted to find out about how she was expanding, how she was taking specific photos, and how she got such a high level of engagement. In order to provide her fans with the best possible answers She decided to create another YouTube channel. Then, the teaching of Instagram became her niche.
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"My YouTube started to grow as did my Instagram was growing, and it created this whole snowball effect of helping people more," she explains. "I thought I would see which platform took off and then run with the platform that did well. They really connected naturally ."
In October 2019 she left her job at a corporate company and began to become a full-time content creator. Since, she's built an Instagram following that is 117K. She also has an YouTube channel that has 246K subscribers, and -having launched online courses in 2021 -- enrolled 600 students and generated over $400,000 USD. "Next year, I want to make seven figures," she says with a smile.
Here are the 10 ways she earned more than six figures during her first year of selling courses:
Skip ahead:
- She followed her gut
- She has launched three different courses
- She carried out market research in order to find the right pricing
- She developed her content in response to what her target audience wanted
- She continually improves her students' experience
- She was generous with her expertise
- She created a simple sales funnel
- The instructor offered freebies with each course
- She overcame burnout
- She remains consistent
She followed her gut
In her job, Adrian created content for Instagram as well as Youtube at weekends. This outlet began to reignite her sense of creativity, and she soon found herself craving more time to do it.
Even though she enjoyed the 9-5 work schedule but she started to feel an unsettling "gut sense" about her destined to do more. "I could not sleep as the inside of me was telling me that I was capable of dreaming more," she shares. "I knew there was plenty more to offer me in the ."
The decision was made to leave when she had consistently earned more than half the amount she earned at her current corporate job through content creation. "Everyone is going to have their different non-negotiables for that transition," she says.
When she had achieved her objective, she quit her job and stepped into the realm of self-employment on the 4th of October, 2019. With a hearty following and plenty of time to spare, she decided that the next step in her journey was creating an online course.
She also launched three courses
Now, Adrian has three courses: The Modern Influencer, which is her highest-ticket course priced at $997 USD. Email List 101, which is her middle-ticket course priced at $297 USD, in addition to The Reels Roadmap which is her cheapest course at $197 USD. All of her courses teach people how to grow as creators of online content However, The Modern Influencer is her main focus.
Originally, The Modern Influencer -- which it launched in the month of July 2021 -- was initially launched as a six-week group coaching call for $597. She then decided to transform the course into a one-on-one, three-month coaching service. However, Adrian quickly realized she was not equipped with enough time to instruct hundreds of individuals one-on-1. She decided to make"The modern Influencer into a recorded course instead.
When looking for the right online course hosting service, she was drawn to the platform after she had taken several of online courses, and , as a student was among her top choices.
"From the student's perspective it's the simplest approach to learning, and also the most straightforward."
Along with selling three courses, she also provides additional resources she sells during checkout in order to boost revenue, such as Pitch Email Templates, Pitch Slide Deck Template, Media Kit Guide, and 100+ Caption Ideas.
She did market research to figure out the right pricing
For pricing The Modern Influencer The Modern Influencer, she conducted market research. She was interested in knowing what other creators were charging for similar programs, and she compared her course to what they were offering. "I looked at what they were teaching, and the subjects I taught more than," she says.
"I could never discover a school that could teach both Instagram and brand collaborations, and mine bundled the two together," continues Adrian. "That's the way I learned to assess the best cost ."
Her content was created based on what her audience desired
Adrian designed her courses, not based on the things she wanted to teach, but on what other classes were lacking.
She asked her audience whether they have taken an Instagram-related course Instagram as well as what they wished they'd learned but did not. In the next step, she designed The Modern Influencer's course through "brain-dumping" all the information she had into sticky-notepads. "The table was a disaster of sticky notes" she jokes.
The sticky notes were arranged from A-Z, covering everything necessary for someone to move from having no knowledge about Instagram to being a full-time creator of content. Every A to Z subject became sections, while additional sticky notes were turned into lessons. Though she states that her course is primarily focused on Instagram, it's constantly evolving; every year, she adds more and new lessons. Additionally, she's planning on the course expanding to include lessons on YouTube and TikTok as that's what her audience is asking for.
Each of her classes is taught using a variety of formats; she switches between her videos, her speaking, slide shows, and screen recordings. "It really just depends on the content and the way I feel the learner will best digest the information," she says.
Furthermore, her videos are entirely pre-recorded, with the exception of the occasional Q&A session which she holds in her Facebook group.
She continues to improve the experience of her students
Her Facebook group is where The Modern Influencer students are included. Members have lifetime access to the group. It also gives them a place where they can continually ask questions on content creation.
In addition to the Facebook page She's also played around with a few ways to keep people engaged with The Modern Influencer She's considering creating a Modern Influencer certification to show that they've completed the course and have been certified as influencers. Plus, she wants to help connect people who've earned the certification with brand agreements on a PR list. "I am not looking to become an agent, I just would like to help people take that next step," she says.
Additionally, she wants to offer her students the opportunity to become affiliates for the class, which means that Adrian will pay students a share of course price by referring other people. "Those are a few concepts we're experimenting with and we'd like to come up with solid strategies next year," she says.
She was generous in sharing her knowledge
Her audience is aspiring influencers - in other words, people who create content and want to represent their brand online.
"I don't work with businesses or anybody who doesn't want to get into the spotlight since a large portion of my strategies are about creating a personal connection with your audience on camera," she says.
Just like her students creating Adrian's fan base required stepping out of her comfort zone yet, as she says, "you don't grow from the comfort zones."
She claims she developed her following by making herself available for learning. "For many years, I was taking those free webinars, and I was studying what other people were doing," she says. "I immediately saw transformation as I began purchasing online classes that could provide me with the outcomes I wanted ."
The most important thing she can do to help content creators build their following is to be generous with the information they wish to impart; she strongly believes that creators should avoid being an information gatekeeper.
"Don't keep a secret about your knowledge, but share the information you have.Once I told myself'screw it' and just started teaching all I could learn without having the intention to get paid I was able to find my audience."
She created a simple sales funnel
Rather than getting intimidated by fancy sales funnels, Adrian decided to keep it simple.
A few months before she started The Modern Influencer, she set up a waitlist on the Google form. Then, she posted the link on her website and all of her social media sites. When she finally launched her course, she had an enthusiastic audience who were waiting for her emails.
The course creators should stay clear of funnels that scare them; rather it is recommended that they make a funnel that is simple, such as a waitlist so that they will generate leads and have people willing to purchase their course after it's been launched.
She gave away freebies to every course
In the present, her sales funnel is a little more extensive and she provides free tools which correspond with each of her courses. "When somebody downloads that freebie , or interacts with it, they'll be put into an email automatization system, which will eventually upsell them by sending them emails" Adrian explains.
For her show, "For The Modern Influencer," she offers a webinar of 60 minutes which provides the 100-day Instagram plan -which is i.e. all the steps needed to hit 10,000 followers and make $1,000 in 100 days. When they've completed this free training, they're sold the course.
For the Email List 101 course, she has a free 10-page pdf download that will teach users how to create building, growing, and serving the email lists. Then, for The Reels Roadmap course, there is a no-cost download that teaches people how to increase views, draw attention to themselves, and make their reels become viral.
She fought off burnout
Although Adrian's business is growing rapidly but it has come at a cost: her mental well-being.
While she worked hard to get her dream job but she fell into an over-working pattern. "I did my best to be at work every hour of every working day." she says.
In the aftermath of suffering from panic attacks and burnouts throughout the months following her first course launch after which she hired a team to help her manage the back end of her enterprise. "If I'm not making content, my business dies," she explains.
Today, she's the position of a digital business administrator and funnel strategist. She also has an engaging and community expert and a virtual assistant video editors as well as a brand collaborations coordinator and an SEO specialist and Pinterest's manager. With the help of a team she's been able set more personal and professional boundaries around taking care of herself. What's the result? More freedom to focus on content creation instead of becoming a weed. "I've been forced to discover many things about myself in order in order to avoid hitting the tipping point again," she says.
She is steady
One of the key things that Adrian realized during her content creation journey -as well as her burnout experiences -was that it's a marathon, not a sprint. Adrian suggests that all creators apply this mindset, too, especially when it comes to getting rid of burnout and building businesses that last.
"You're on the long haul," she explains. "You don't require results right now or require immediate gratification."
She advises entrepreneurs to focus on their company every day, in tiny chunks. "It isn't necessary to have everything be done at the same time," she adds. "This is the game that lasts. If this is something you want to do improve your performance by 1% every single day. When you do it just by focusing on one aspect at a, in three years, you're going to see so many more successes than anyone trying to accomplish everything at the same time. ."
So far, her greatest achievement has been obtaining the YouTube Play Button -- an award honored to YouTube's top-rated channels. "It was a full circle moment of my journey," she says and smiles. "I would love to go back in time and inform 12-year-old Millie that those hopes she had in her mind could come true. ."
One thing she wishes she could go back in time and tell herself was to believe in the process. For those who are aspiring to become online creators, she recommends that they concentrate on the benefits that come from slow, steady growth. "Don't consider the time it takes to complete your work," she advises.
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