The Way Millie Adrian Made $400K by Teaching Aspiring Social Media Influencers
Millie Adrian is on a task to train future social media influencers how to make money using Instagram.
Her passion for creating content was first discovered at a young age. In 2008, she created a YouTube channel along with her younger brother, which lasted nine years. "It was all amusement," she says. "We made silly videos, skits, mock-ups and tried out various ways to live our lives. ."
After she got a new corporate job in her early twenties, she missed the creative opportunity that video-making gave her. So it was that she decided to give it a go Instagram blog on top of her work. She advertised herself as a lifestyle blogger , and posted "anything and everything" sharing photos related to fashion, food, travel and wine, coffee, books, and even her pet.
Her Instagram account @itsmodernmillie rapidly grew, and she was being asked various questions from her fans. People wanted to find out why she was growing, how she took specific pictures as well as how she managed to get such a high level of engagement. To give her followers the best possible answers, she decided to launch an additional YouTube channel. Then, the teaching of Instagram was her focus.
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"My YouTube began to expand, my Instagram began to expand which led to an entire snowball effect, helping more people," she explains. "I was just going to check which platform was the most successful and then run with the platform that did well. But they really just connected naturally ."
In October 2019, she quit her job at a corporate company and began to become full-time creator of content. Since, she's built an Instagram following that is 117K. She also has the YouTube channel has 246K followers, andfollowing the launch of online classes in 2021 -- enrolled 600 students and generated more than $400,000 USD in sales. "Next year, I'd like to earn seven figures," she says, beaming.
Here are the 10 ways she earned several six-figures in the first year of selling courses:
Skip ahead:
- Her gut instinct was the one she followed
- She launched three courses
- She conducted market research in order to find the right pricing
- She created her content in response to what her target audience desired
- She continues to improve her students' experience
- She was generous in sharing her expertise
- She designed a straightforward sales funnel
- The instructor offered freebies with every course
- She was able to overcome burnout
- She is consistent
She listened to her instincts
While working for her company, Adrian created content for Instagram as well as Youtube during the weekend. It was a way to rekindle her creative spirit, and soon she was craving more time for it.
While she loved her 9-5 job, she began having an unsettling "gut sense" that she was bound to do more. "I could not sleep as my inner voice was telling me that I could dream more," she shares. "I believed there was something more for me out there ."
The decision was made to leave when she was consistently making more than half the amount she was earning at her previous company job by creating content. "Everyone will be faced with various non-negotiables to make for the transition," she says.
After achieving this goal, she left the job she was working in and joined the realm of self-employment on the 4th of October, 2019. With the support of her followers and more time on her hands it was decided that the next stage of her journey was the creation of an online course.
She launched three courses
In the present, Adrian has three courses: The Modern Influencer, which is her highest-ticket course at $997 USD, Email List 101, which is her intermediate-ticket course costing $297 USD in addition to The Reels Roadmap. This is her lowest ticket course at just $97 USD. The courses she offers teach people how to grow as creators of online content, but The Modern Influencer is the one she focuses on most.
At first, the company called The Modern Influencer that she launched in July 2021 -- started with a six-week coaching group session for $597. After that, she was able to transform the course into a 3-month one-on-1 coaching program. But Adrian soon learned she was not equipped with the capacity to teach hundreds of people one-on-one. She decided to make the modern Influencer into a pre-recorded class instead.
When looking for the right online platform for hosting courses, she was drawn to the platform after she had taken several of online courses and as a student, was her most-loved.
"From the student's perspective this is the most efficient method of learning and most straightforward."
Apart from offering three classes, she has additional materials available for offers at checkout for an up-sell to boost revenue, such as Pitch Email Templates, Pitch Slide Deck Template, Media Kit Guide, and 100plus caption ideas.
She did market research to figure out the best price
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 the content she created with theirs. "I looked at what they were teaching, and the subjects I taught more about," she says.
"I could never locate a class that covered the use of Instagram as well as brand collaborations. My course brought the two in one," continues Adrian. "That's the way I learned to gauge the right cost ."
She created her content in response to what her target audience desired
Adrian crafted her courses not based on the things she wanted to instruct, but on what other classes were lacking.
The audience was asked whether they had taken a course on Instagram, and what information they would have liked to know but didn't. After that, she developed The Modern Influencer's syllabus by "brain-dumping" everything she was aware of into sticky-notepads. "The table was an utter mess of sticky notes," she laughs.
She organized the sticky notes from A-Z, covering everything needed for somebody to transition from being completely ignorant about Instagram to becoming a full-time content creator. Every A to Z topic became modulesand the other sticky notes became lessons. While she says that the class is predominantly Instagram-focused, it's always evolving and every year she will add new lessons. Additionally, she's planning on the course expanding to include lessons on YouTube and TikTok because that's what her audience is asking for.
Her courses are delivered in a few mediums; she rotates between her videos, her speaking slideshows, slide presentations, and screen recordings. "It will depend on the topic and how I believe the students can best absorb the content," she says.
Furthermore, her videos are completely pre-recorded and has only occasionally, a Q&A that she organizes on her Facebook page.
She continually improves her students' experience
The group on Facebook is where The Modern Influencer students are included. Members have lifetime access to the group and it gives them a place where students can ask any questions about the creation of content.
In addition to the Facebook group, she says she's played around with several methods to ensure that people are engaged in The Modern Influencer She's considering the creation of a Modern Influencer certification that shows they've taken the course and are certified influencers. Plus, she wants to help connect people who've earned the certification with brand agreements with a PR checklist. "I don't want to be an agency. I would like to help people take that next step," she says.
Additionally, she wants to offer students an opportunity to become affiliates for the course, meaning that Adrian will pay students a share of cost of the course by referring students. "Those are just a couple of ideas we're playing with, and we'd like to develop the best strategies for next year,"" she explains.
She was generous in sharing her expertise
Her followers are young influencers, or that is, creators of content who wish to become the face of their online brand.
"I am not a business or anyone who isn't looking to get in front of the camera as a majority of the strategies I use are about creating your own personal connection to your viewers on camera" she states.
As with her students, creating Adrian's fan base required stepping outside of her comfort zone yet, as she says, "you don't grow from areas of comfort."
She says she built her following by spending time in her own education. "For a long time I attended free webinars and analyzing the activities of other participants," she says. "I immediately saw transformation after I bought online classes to provide me with the outcomes I wanted ."
Her number one tip to help content creators build their reputation is to be generous with what they want to teach She strongly believes that creators should not be an information gatekeeper.
"Don't be afraid to share the information you have, and be generous with the knowledge that you have.Once I said , 'no way to the side' and began teaching all I could learn without having the intent of getting paid I was able to find my audience."
The designer created a basic sales funnel
In lieu of getting overwhelmed by elaborate sales funnels, Adrian decided to keep the funnel easy.
Just a few months prior to when the launch of The Modern Influencer, she set up a waitlist on a Google form. She then posted the link on her website along with all of her social media platforms. Then, once she launched the course, she was greeted by many people waiting to receive her emails.
She suggests that course designers stay clear of funnels that scare the audience. Instead her advice is to make a funnel that is simple, such as waiting lists so that they are able to make leads and ensure that they have customers willing to purchase their course once it's launched.
The instructor offered freebies with every course
In the present, her sales funnel is a little more extensive and she offers free resources which correspond with each of her programs. "When somebody downloads that freebie or engages with it, they're then put into an email automatization system, where it'll upsell them eventually through these emails," she says.
For her show, "For The Modern Influencer," the host of the webinar is a 60-minute one in which she teaches the 100-day Instagram strategy -that is i.e. all the steps needed in order to get 10,000 followers and make $1000 in 100 days. When they've completed this free training, they're upsold the program.
For The Email List 101 course, she has a free 10-page pdf download that will teach individuals how to begin, grow and serve an email list. In addition, for The Reels Roadmap course, the course is free and helps people increase views, draw attention to themselves, and help their reels go viral.
She was able to overcome burnout
While Adrian's company is growing rapidly but it has come at the cost of her mental well-being.
Despite building her dream job but she fell into the pattern of working too much. "I worked every waking moment of the morning," she says.
In the aftermath of suffering from anxiety attacks and burnouts over a period of time following the first time she launched her course, she decided to hire a team to help her run the backend of her business. "If I don't create videos, my business will die," she explains.
Today, she's a digital business manager, a funnel strategist, an expert in community and engagement and a virtual assistant video editors as well as a brand collaborations coordinator as well as an SEO expert as well as a Pinterest supervisor. Since hiring a team, she's been able to establish more professional and personal guidelines for self-care. What's the consequence? The freedom to focus on content creation instead of being in the weeds. "I've had to learn many things about myself in order so that I don't hit these tipping points," she says.
She is consistent
One of the most important aspects that Adrian learned throughout her journey of creating content -the burnout and experience- is that this is a marathon not a race. She recommends that other creators apply this mindset, also, especially when it comes to getting rid of burnout and building businesses that last.
"You're in it for the long haul," she explains. "You do not need to be seeing the results immediately, nor do you need instant gratification."
In actual fact, she suggests creators to work on their company every day, in tiny chunks. "It isn't necessary to have everything happen at once," she adds. "This is the long game. If this is something you're trying to achieve, get 1% better every single day. If you take it one step at a time and over three years you're going to see so much more success than anybody trying to accomplish everything at the same time. ."
The 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 tells us, smiling. "I would love to return in time to inform 12-year-old Millie that those dreams she had in her mind might come true. ."
One thing she wishes she could go back in time and tell herself was to be a believer in the process. If you're aspired online creator, she recommends that they focus on the results that come from slow, regular improvement. "Don't think about how long it's taking you," she advises.
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