Episode #024: Getting 400 PAYING Leads for a Launch with Marisa Cummings
Getting 400 PAYING Leads for a Launch with Marisa Cummings
Welcome to the Not Your Average Online Marketing Podcast! In this episode, I am talking to Marisa Cummings, an Incubator student, which is our group coaching program turned extraordinaire marketer over just a series of incredible launches and events. If you have been eyeing up our coaching program, you want to hear from one of our students, or you just want to have better launches, this episode is for you so stay tuned.
I am so excited because this is the first episode of the Not Your Average Online Marketing podcast where we have a guest. I wanted the first guest to be a student that is really crushing it.
Show Notes:
[01:21] Marisa is an educator and artist who's been in the game for 15 + years. She has been in the coaching space since 2008.
[03:29] She helps artists who sell directly to their collectors online. She loves empowering artists in this area.
[05:51] As coaches, teachers, and mentors we have to show up and do our marketing part too.
[07:10] She did a paid 5-day challenge.
[09:13] It is not that our free students aren’t getting results and doing really amazing things. The paid people just show up at a higher capacity.
[14:54] Her paid launch has higher engagement, participation, interaction, quality of commitment, and buy-in from the potential members.
[16:15] As you serve people where you are, your confidence in yourself and the results you create for other people will expand.
[18:33] Art is when someone connects with you energetically. In order to get somewhere, you have to start somewhere. It takes time and practice to get good at what you’re doing.
[21:52] If you haven’t put in the time, energy, mastery, and transactional experience to charge what you want to charge, it is going to be hard.
[26:23] That lived and invested experience is what allows you to conceptualize your future. You don’t have that if you’re not open.
[27:21] It is important to find people that you find that connection with and you trust for coaching. Do your research and take your time deciding if it is the right next step for you.
[29:56] You’re not going to uplevel by yourself so find somebody like Zach that you can trust, that knows what they're doing, that has the experience, that has guiding people like you, and then when you go in be open about what that person is sharing.
[34:23] Marisa shares some results she has accomplished over the last 18 months.
[38:57] She played full out from day one, tried new things, grown and evolved, and that has made all the difference.
[41:04] It is so important to dial in your messaging, your marketing, your offer, and how you best serve people.
[43:56] It is exciting to succeed with people.
[44:50] Check out the Incubator Coaching Program.
Links Mentioned on the Show From Zach:
Connect with Marisa Cummings:
Full Transcript:
Zachary Spuckler: This is Not Your Average Online Marketing Podcast, episode number 24. And in this episode, we're talking to Marisa Cummings, an Incubator student, which is our group coaching program, turned extraordinary marketer over just a series of incredible launches and events. And if you have been eyeing up our coaching program, you want to hear from one of our students or you just want to have better launches, this episode is for you, so stay tuned. Hey, hey, hey, not so average marketers, welcome to another episode of the podcast. Now, I am ridiculously excited which I know I say every week, but this week, I'm really, really excited because this is the first episode of the Not Your Average Online Marketing Podcast where we have a guest.
And I really went back and forth about how I wanted to bring my first guest on and I've had people pitching to be on the show for weeks, months, even years now and I said, "You know what? For my first guest, I want it to be a student who is just crushing it. I want it to be a member of our community that is just killing it. I don't want it to be somebody who reached out to me or we have an existing relationship that makes it easy for me to be like, 'Yeah, come promote your book or your webinar or your thing or your launch.' And instead, I wanted to bring on somebody who is just absolutely killing it."
So, in just a second, Marisa is going to jump on with us but I just wanted to give a little intro, dote on her for a second. Marisa is an educator and artist who has been in the game for 15 plus years, she has been featured in major publications as an artist, she even has one of her paintings is on the wall in a Marvel movie. You all, how cool is that? She has been inside of our group coaching program for about a year and a half, it'll be two years in August if we, cross our fingers, get to hold on to her for that long because she is really amazing.
She's also been in the coaching space since 2008 with over 10 years of experience working with other artists and just a little fun fact, her first ever online course was actually pre-dating the official live streaming platforms. So, it was a six-week audio feed and a private blog. I tell you all that because I want you to know that Marisa has tried things, she has been around the block, she kills it as an artist, she's now killing it as an educator and I'm just so, so excited. So, before I give away anything else, let's welcome Marisa to the show. Hey, Marisa, thanks for being here.
Marisa Cummings: Wow, Zach, can I just save that recording and play it in my ear every day? Thank you for that and I'm also really honored to be the first guest on Not Your Average Marketing, I'm very excited to be here. As you now know, thanks to Zach, I totally geek out about marketing and I'm honored to even have extraordinary and marketing in the same sentence in the title as me but I love it so much so I really want to help your listeners and highly encourage them to get support, especially from you, if they are thinking about it. So, happy to be here. Thank you again.
Zachary Spuckler: Well, I am just as excited to have you here. Before we dive in, why don't you give us the 60-second synopsis of who you are, what you do, who you're serving. Obviously, I've alluded to the fact that it's artists, but you can say it in so much more eloquent words than I can. So, tell us a little bit about your business, who you serve, that kind of stuff and then we'll get into what you've been able to achieve over the last year and a half.
Marisa Cummings: So, I help artists who sell direct to their collectors online and I am an artist who has licensed my work. I've worked as a surface designer and designed nine fabric collections, I've also authored a book, I'm a published author, I'm a self-published author and what I discovered on that journey, because I had this idea that when I would get all these contracts, that, certainly, that will support more of the art that I want to make and selling it in the way that I most wanted to sell it. And what I realized over all those years is that, actually, the biggest part of my business was always selling direct to my collector, some of whom have been with me since 2006, it's really incredible.
And having that relationship with them and the fact that they really are the reason why I was able to get licensing deals and fabric deals, their support of me. And I've sold through galleries as well and I love empowering artists in this one area specifically, not that I don't get to, obviously, advise them in all of the areas that I've worked in, I'm happy to do that as well. But because when you master this part of selling, I call it artfully selling, selling direct to your collectors and we get to do this in such an amazing way now, every year just increases the possibilities for us in this online space, then you build the skills to sell to all of these different areas and/or choose if that's even where you want to put your focus as an artist.
And I think, as artists, the last point I want to make about how and why I choose to serve them in this way, is that we come into the game going, "Oh, if a gallery just takes me on and if a licensing company, I won't have to do all that marketing stuff, right? I won't have to do everything that it takes, someone else will do that for me and I'll happily give them a percentage," and for artists and creatives in general, that's not really how it works.
Same for us, Zach, now being in the world of serving people through teaching, mentoring, coaching, we have to show up and do our marketing part too, someone's not just going to do that for us. Because there are actually people in the art world that try to help artists do that as well and I just feel like the more we can empower ourselves, the better the decisions we can make going forward in any area we choose but at least we'll know why we're doing it not just because we don't want to market.
Zachary Spuckler: I love it and what I love about your journey is, as I remember very vividly when we started I would say things like, "What's your conversion rate?" And you'd say, "I'm not 100% sure, I'll have to check that." And now we just recently had a meeting where we built out this full spreadsheet, we projected numbers and we projected results and we calculated potential conversion rates and you really become a ninja at marketing. I would love to really highlight one of the things that you've done recently. So, I will let you share the details but you are actually going into a launch right now, you actually just started today.
So, first off, anyone who's launched before needs to send amazing vibes to Marisa because launches are very exhausting and we appreciate you getting on a call to record with us after a big day like that. But you were able to do something really phenomenal which is, you've done five day challenges, we've talked about five day challenges on the show, but you did a paid five day challenge. You charged people to be in this five day challenge. Will you tell us a little bit about the challenge, some of the results you've been able to get so far and what that has meant for you in terms of your evolution through various launches that you've done?
Marisa Cummings: Yes. Well, we're currently sitting at almost 450. Well, no, over 450 people. I also invite members of my expansive artist community to join as my guest and so we're well over 500 people who are joining us for this workshop and coaching week. And for all my marketing friends or marketing friend listening, I tested all of this with free offerings and teaching throughout all of last year and I just realized, especially on the business side, so I'm teaching creatives about business as I was sharing, that the commitment level needs to be really high as an artist doing this work.
This is not something you can just be mamby pamby about and, if you truly want this, you have to want it and show up for it. And so, I made a decision that providing or offering something for an affordable investment, it just attracts a different kind of student, not that my other students haven't been great and so many of those people do show up and do the work but almost all the people who join this way show up and do the work. Was that something that was helpful for me to share, Zach, as we're navigating how we're deciding to market these days? Is that helpful for your listeners to know more about?
Zachary Spuckler: Absolutely. And I love this because we've actually talked about this on the show, is a paid lead worth more than a free lead and I love the way you articulate it. It's not that my free students aren't getting results or doing really amazing things, it's that the paid people show up at a higher capacity. And it doesn't mean that your free students are less than or your free events are less than, we've done, personally, free and paid challenges, we've got a paid challenge coming up in April that we're going to do and we found that it just is a different type of atmosphere but it also requires a different type of what you've said which is testing to get there.
I think a lot of people idolize this idea of like, "Oh, I'll charge people to be in my challenge or webinar," but they haven't done the testing to get to a point where they're ready to do that. Because in your past launches, you've had literally thousands of people sign up for free and, in this launch, you've had over 450 pay to be there. But what I really want people to understand is that you are sitting right now on an audience of over 500 customers who pulled out their credit card and said, "Yes, I'm committed to making this happen."
You talked about what motivated that decision, but compared to what you've done in the past, I know it's still early in your launch, but are there any big things that you're seeing as like, "Yeah, this has been a total game changer now that people are paying to be in our launch."? I want to say, in your last launch, you ended with just over 1,000 artists and this one, it's half the size, but are you finding more engagement? What are you finding? How about that? I'll be quiet. Tell me what you're finding.
Marisa Cummings: Oh, I know and keep me on track because this is where I love talking about all of this. It's so fascinating and, yeah, there's way more engagement. I'm having over a hundred people show up on lives versus 20 people out of 1,000. It's amazing that you put a little investment, we all know this, those of us who understand this and are investing in our own education. I didn't for so long, I have been the person that was the solopreneur who thought I was a pioneer in the online space. I was but that doesn't mean I knew everything, even though for a short while I thought maybe I did, no, not at all.
I had to almost lose the business that I spent so many years building to realize, "Wow, I need to educate myself, I need to become a better marketer. I really, really do." And this is where being that person and then investing in myself gave me so much more confidence. When I'm able to work with someone like Zach and see the difference that it's made in my business, you can't really ask people to do what you're not willing to do for yourself in business. And so, all of those dominoes, if you will, or Lego pieces, whatever we're stacking is building something that has made this particular launch open up in a new way in terms of the level of commitment, the level of engagement, the excitement, people are caring so much about this.
I also do think that, and this is something that Zach is so great at, you know this when you listen to the podcast and Not Your Average Marketing, it's true, Zach is going to find where the market is going next and I tend to be that kind of person, too. I think a lot of us, as entrepreneurs are, I start to feel where things are shifting. I used to feel this in my art and trends happening there and I'm always thinking of what's coming next. If this is everywhere, what are people going to need next? And I completely believe in be direct with what you're offering and it really lands with people, because a lot of times, we are soft-shoeing around what we can help someone with.
And some of that makes sense when we're just starting out, we are maybe learning the capacity with which we can help someone. We know we can but what kind of results can we get them which, again, is the whole process of going through trying things, working with people and building your confidence as you see the results that you're getting for people. And so, that's just another one of those Lego pieces that's adding to this structure, I guess, that we're building and it's also opening up for me in a way to show up with a certain confidence that I've been growing into.
Even though I did this a while ago, in 2008 and a couple years throughout, until I really decided to dedicate myself to this work, selling art is not something a lot of people think they can help people with. And I've recognized now, through my work with artists, through my own learning, you can help somebody with that. There's a lot to it but you can help somebody do that. And so, it's just this whole, I'm probably rambling a little but I hope I'm making sense, that it's this whole package of shifts that have happened through consistent growing, learning, practicing, trying different things of what works for your business and for the audience you most want to serve that is leading to this moment where it's coming together in a new way.
Zachary Spuckler: I love what you said and I want to pull out three key things for those that are listening that are like, "What are the really gold nuggets in there?" The first one is that you said, "My paid launch has higher engagement, participation, interaction and quality of commitment and buy in from the potential members." And this is a trend that we're seeing where we get better engagement conversions when we do a paid challenge or a paid lunch or a paid workshop. These work incredibly well and the reason they work is because you have to have legitimate credit card level buy in from people.
The other thing you said is that, prior to really committing to this, to launching multiple times, because one of the things that I know from working with you that I just want our listeners to know, that you've launched several times before this paid launch. I want to say seven plus times over the past year and a half and you said, "Prior to this, I was soft-shoeing around what I knew. But as I did it for free, as I did it at low cost, as I did it with founding member launches and lower priced products," and I know this because you've increased the price of your membership since we've been together, you've increased the price of your core offer but you didn't do that from the jump. You didn't come out the gate saying, "I'm charging X amount of dollars because I know I'm worth it." You came out of the gate saying, "I think I can do this and I'm going to try."
And to me, for anyone listening, the thing that Marisa said that was so key is that as you serve people where you are, your confidence in yourself and your confidence in the results you create for other people will expand and I just thought that was so beautifully stated the way you said it and I think that's really a big thing that you should understand. If you're like, "I'm going to charge $20 For my boot camp," but you don't know you can get people results, it's woo on this show sometimes. Energetically, you're never going to sell it well, it's going to come across in your copy, your videos, your promotions, there's always going to be this tinge of uncertainty in everything you do and Marisa has overcome that uncertainty by consistently practicing her marketing chops.
And the last thing that I want to touch on that I think would be a great segue into what we talk about next is that you're doing the same thing you're asking your students to do. And this is where I think a lot of us get tripped up. We see the flashy ads that are like, "You can be a coach tomorrow and charge $5,000 and quit your job in three months." But the truth is that the people doing that, that are promoting that or you're opting into that free stuff, if you're not willing to invest yourself at the level that you're asking people to invest in you, there's a mismatch there.
And Marisa, I think you even said so many people aren't willing to spend money on their own education but then they want people to spend money on their art. And I see this as a great parallel is that in the art world, and correct me if I'm wrong, Marisa, and then I promise I'm going to turn the mic back over to you. But correct me if I'm wrong, if you're going to buy from an artist, if I'm a collector buying from an artist, I want that artist to be practiced. It doesn't have to be investing in the sense of like, "I took formal art education."
It could be investing time and getting better as an artist. Marisa, I know you do this, it could be investing money and taking trips to beautiful places where you practice your art and you take inspiration from the world. A collector doesn't go, "Oh, there's a guy from Ohio, he's never left Ohio, he's never done anything exciting, he is a terrible painter but he's got a great vision for his life so I might as well work with him, buy his art." That kind of stuff doesn't happen. Would you agree with that sentiment?
Marisa Cummings: Yes, definitely. Art is so interesting because it's basically someone is going to connect with you energetically, really, if we just break it down and it doesn't have to do with formal training but it has to do with everything that we're talking about here which is in order to get somewhere, you have to start somewhere. And I see so often, and I do see this in teaching artists as well, anything that has to do with the online space, let's just label it basically, I'm sure this is not everything. But many industries in the online space, because we see people's success now we forget that it takes time and practice to get good at what you're doing and it goes a lot faster than it ever did for people, I believe, today.
I live with a comedian, I love the world of comedy and I think it's Sebastian Maniscalco, he's one of our favorite comedians, and he was saying, "Yeah, it took me about 12 to 17 years to be a comedian." And it's like, "Oh, thank you for that reminder," because it takes a little bit of time, you have to put some skin in the game in terms of your commitment to your craft and your practice and then, back to your point, Zach, of your commitment to investing in yourself and your education.
And anytime, this was so big, I still can't believe I missed it. Yeah, when you're asking somebody to invest in something that you've crafted and that you are putting out into the world as a business owner, are you doing the same on any level and especially, I would say as a business owner in education in regards to your business, and now I'm also really encouraging artists as someone who was primarily self-taught to go get education in your creative space as well. This is the amazing time we live in is that you have access to people like Zach, you have access to people like me who want to help you.
We're passionate about helping you and so you can get so much more information than when I was first starting and everyone's like, "What do we do? What's a blog? What's the Instagram thing? What's going on Facebook?" We just had to figure it out. I know the same for you Zach, we may have touched upon this, but I found you on Periscope. I'm so grateful that I found you there and that I actually stumbled across that app and dove in and started using it. I think that's when I started to wake up to the fact that there might be a few things I want to learn from people even outside of my art industry that have amazing skills that I would also like to embody as well as a business owner.
Zachary Spuckler: Yeah, and I just think this is such a valuable conversation. Look, I will sit here right now and tell you, full disclosure, I'm not afraid to share numbers, our Incubator costs $2,000 a quarter, that's what we charge our students. I'm currently in a coaching program, Mastermind type program that I paid $2,500 a month to be in. And I'm not sitting here saying, "Oh, if you've never paid 1,000, you can't charge 1,000." What I'm saying is, if you haven't put in the time, energy and mastery and transactional experience to charge what you want to charge, it's going to be hard, it's going to be harder. Because Marisa, I know that you do some art retreats as well, I know you're looking to do them now that COVID is lightening up but you go on our retreats. You went to, oh, my gosh, I don't remember. Was it France you just recently went to?
Marisa Cummings: Yeah. Well, that was one of the ones that I hosted. So, I host them over there but I've recently, in the last couple years, invested in an art program to start breaking open my art after 15 years just realizing while I'm doing all this learning in terms of the marketing and the business side and wanting to continue to become a better coach, I'm putting so much attention into my own personal development and just becoming a healthier human, honestly, so I can be a good leader to the artists that I'm helping. And I also thought, "Oh, my goodness. Well, I want to be doing this with my art now, too." Basically, I could just be a professional learner, I love it so much, I feel so grateful for the people that I get to work with and learn from.
And so, yeah, I'm opening it up within my art and there is a beautiful snowball effect that when everything that we're talking about begins to work with time and practice, not overnight, just give it a minute, I don't even know if I can articulate how fabulous it is. But as you grow as a person, you invest in your education, you take what you're learning and you infuse that and bring that to the communities that you're serving, it's the best. It's like this full circle moment and this incredible ripple effect. I can't articulate it, it's just so special. Am I making sense to you? Can you articulate that for me?
Zachary Spuckler: Yes, I love what you're saying because what I pulled out of that just from what we were chatting about is two big things. One, you said, "Oh, that's something I hosted, but just a couple years ago, I started investing in my own art education," right? And I can imagine for you, it must have been so much easier to say, "I'm going to create this luxury, high-end experience in France," that some of us ... The best way I can explain this is if you were, four years ago, to say, "I'm going to host an art retreat in France," but you'd never been to France, you'd never been to a retreat, you would say, "What does that even look like?" Right?
Marisa Cummings: Yes, yeah.
Zachary Spuckler: What we understand is, psychologically, our brains physically can't create something that we don't have context for. Now, there are examples of people who do, I know, but in a very simplified way to put it, it's hard for us as humans to conceptualize something that we can't have experience that relates to. Even with babies, it's object in permanence, right? As a baby, if you play peekaboo, they really think you're gone until they have the experience and the knowledge and the growth to understand what's happening but it's hard to do that without experiencing it, without experiencing the world. And so, what you really said really cemented the point home is like, "Oh, well, I started investing in my art.
So, when I did a retreat, I wasn't like, 'How am I going to do this?'" You were creating it off your learned experiences and, to me, that is the value of investing in programs like the Incubator that we run or the Mastermind that I'm in is it allows you to surround yourself with a conceptualized vision of what is possible for you. And whether that's art education, whether that's marketing education, whether that's how to play guitar, it doesn't matter, you can conceptualize what you're learning by investing in your education.
The other big thing that you said that I think is just so, so important is that a lot of times we are afraid to invest in ourselves. And there is a fear of like, "Well, what if I invest this and I don't see it back or I don't stick to it or this, that and the other?" And we were talking about this a little bit earlier and that is that you, in the Incubator, have been so open minded and when I present an idea, you go, "Okay, I'll try it." And I think that that's a missing piece of the equation that we should touch on which is that so many people say, "Okay, fine, I'll buy the coaching program, I'll buy the course, I'll buy the mini product," and then they don't use it or they're not open to the ideas there and so you don't get the experience.
So, just to piggyback on what we were saying, that experience, that lived experience, that invested experience is what allows you to conceptualize your future, you don't have that if you're not open. So, Marisa, I'd love to just hear from you and I want to weave these together here, what has been your experience, and we have not scripted this, I'm very intrigued to hear. What has been your experience of the Incubator and what has allowed you to be so open and coachable to just try things? Because obviously, I'm not divulging anything but you know things about my business, I know things about your business and sometimes you've done things that I know have been terrifying for you but you've taken that leap anyway. Can you talk to me about how you've been able to show up so open, so receptive and how that has shaped your experience of the coaching program?
Marisa Cummings: Yeah, absolutely. First of all, I really trust you, Zach, I really do.
Zachary Spuckler: Thank you.
Marisa Cummings: And so, just first and foremost, finding people that you feel that connection with and that you trust and hearing people like me, do your research, listen to people who've worked with people. And if you need to take your time deciding that it's the right next step for you, all of us who work with people and help you, we all understand that. Everybody's timing is different on that timeline, so to speak. But when I came to Zach, I had already been familiar with his work and I have suffered the pain of doing it all myself and I realized I had started easing my way into investment.
It's amazing that it went from me joining a $47 a month membership, this was a couple years ago in the creative business space, too, I too will invest thousands of dollars in my education and I am so grateful I get to do it. I am telling you, I can't even believe that that's coming out of my mouth as somebody who is ... I'm a super good, frugal, bootstrapping entrepreneur and that's beneficial in some points, it's not beneficial when it comes to really getting traction in this space. And so, I came knowing that I need to learn so that is partly being open.
Also, remember I was talking about the full circle moment, as you begin to help people, you also realize what it's like to be on the other side of people who aren't receptive to what you are offering which, again, begins to come together with confidence. In the beginning, you may tolerate a little more of that and then you'll be like, "Nope, we just can't have this arguing for limitations, it's just not going to work. This space is requiring more of all of us." So, I get to say that because I have basically spent a career, I started as a graphic designer for a tech company, oh, my gosh, what was it? No, 1997. And so, I was working in Photoshop, we were making CD-ROMs for catalogs, the internet was really getting started.
I know it was happening behind the scenes long before it came out to us commercially, but I've really had this amazing vantage point of seeing it all unfold and realizing that wow, it's time to up level. So, just knowing you're not going to do that by yourself so then find someone like Zach that you can trust, that knows what they're doing, that has experience, that has guided people like me and so many other members and students of Zach's and then, when you go in, then be open to what that person is sharing. Otherwise, it doesn't make any sense why we would invest with people and then go in and not actually be open.
Because sometimes you have given me suggestions based on your experience which is your expertise and your specialty, one of them is Facebook ads, and you're testing all the time. Well, I'm so grateful I get to invest in you testing all the time because I'd like to make some art and I would like to guide my people but I'm not ready to become a Facebook ads expert. I know enough, what do we say, to be dangerous now. I think I know, based on how you guided me, I can figure it out but this is not something that you want to just waste time figuring out.
And when Zach has offered suggestions, I'm like, "Oh, well, I don't know that I would have thought to do this, but guess what? Zach knows what he's doing it and so I am going to try it." And I just think it's that whole combination, again, of being in a place of I'm trusting and I know what I need now, I guess, as a business owner, even just a human being. I'm very clear on the kinds of people I like to work with both in supporting and people that I trust as mentors and coaches and I'm just like, "Let's go. Let's do this." I spent a number of years doing all the other things and I don't need to waste that time anymore.
Zachary Spuckler: So, so good and it really is. I think it was described to me by a mentor once as, when you go into a coaching program or a course or any training or even just mentoring of any situation and someone's trying to help you and you go, "Mmm, no, I've tried that" or, "Mmm, no, I already know that" or, "Mmm, no, I do that," someone is offering you this gift and what you're actively saying is I don't want your gift. And eventually, if you reject someone's gifts and the gifting that someone's doing for you, eventually they'll just stop bringing a gift to the party.
Marisa Cummings: Oh, yeah.
Zachary Spuckler: They'll just stop supporting you.
Marisa Cummings: Yeah.
Zachary Spuckler: So, I think that that's something you've done so well and you've even articulated it well as in the Incubator, and even in your coaching programs, I'm sure. I know in the Incubator, we share that gift analogy at the beginning of every quarter and we say, "If we find that you're being combative or we find that you're not sharing, we're going to bring it up to you and we're going to say to you, 'Hey, you don't have to implement the advice. Just because you nod and say thank you so much for the idea, doesn't mean you have to run around and burn down your business and change everything you were doing because I, another mentor or another student have suggested it.'" It's simply the act of doing something good for yourself and someone else and I just think that's so key and I love that you've been receptive and open the whole journey.
Marisa, as we start to wrap up, I know that people love, especially on this show, generally on my episodes, I'm like, "Do X, Y and Z." This is more of an open case study exploration but people on my audience love numbers, metric results. Can you share with us, maybe, just a couple of results that you've achieved over the last six months, 12 months, year and a half that you've been in the Incubator that you're really excited about and maybe just what they've done for your business as a whole?
Marisa Cummings: Totally. I know I'm now like a data head, no, I don't know that I'm a data head but, definitely, that's one of the things that's really special to you, Zach, is you are amazing at working the numbers. And I trust Zach so much that I have actually opened my numbers to him as a business person and have just been like, "All right, we've done this, so what would be your guidance in terms of just being even really wise about how I'm investing and growing?" And I'm just super appreciative of the breadth of your skill set, it's fantastic and so you have actually gotten me a little bit excited about spreadsheets as well. So, I have some of those numbers for you.
But I was thinking about, in preparation for speaking to you and your listener today, I was just looking at my old email campaigns. So, I had about 2,300 subscribers and I've grown close to 8,000 and those are active. I've cleaned my list, I lost a lot of the free people who weren't quite as invested as the people I'm working with now and I get about a 30% open rate consistently on my emails. And basically, I've built an entirely new business in two years and I built a six figure business in two years or close to a year and a half because I paused my art business temporarily to focus a lot of my energy into this part of my business.
And so, that's also something just to factor in, aside from the data, just something that feels important to share. When you go all in, go all in and don't second guess what you feel called to do. We've talked about trust the mentors that you've chosen to invest with, take their guidance or be open to it and take those next steps, take action on that, all of this is so important, it's a quick inspire tangent.
But coming back to the data, so I feel really proud of the fact that I've just been able to build an entirely new business, which then also gives me confidence of what am I capable of just as an entrepreneur and with marketing skills that I've been equipped with through the incubator. It feels like the sky is the limit for me in every area of my business, coming back into the art side of it this year as well. And yes, let's see. In terms of the launches I've had, I'm always confusing it, I have had five figure launches the last few times. I think one was almost at 30,000 which is mind blowing.
Zachary Spuckler: Awesome.
Marisa Cummings: And as Zach will teach you, it is profitable. He will show you or he guides you in how to craft the numbers including your ads budget, if that's something that you're going to be working on. Well, if you're in the Incubator, right, Zach, I think you start working in that direction for sure and he just gives you all these parameters that are really fantastic guides for you to stretch but not to go overboard either. I appreciate the way that you guide and I would guess, and tell me if I'm wrong, a lot of that has to do with all the things that you have done and tried and lived and worked in this space already.
Zachary Spuckler: Yeah.
Marisa Cummings: You've been doing this for a long time and I know because I was following all your work earlier and it's as if you dialed in exactly how you want to be in this space and going from there and you know a lot of what's worked and what hasn't and you're able to share that with us to save us the time and the frustration and the energy. And so, you just have a really wonderful way of assessing where someone is and stretching them a little bit but not stretching them to a place where they are investing way beyond what they feel their numbers can actually have the capacity for.
So, having that data, again, and having that guidance has helped me to gradually grow which I'm really, again, super thankful for because it's not putting me in a place where I am just up against the wall in every which way. I have a very clear path set out for me and I have goals that feel achievable, bigger than what I thought they could be at one point for sure, but I feel like I can get there. Does that make sense? Is that helpful with some of the data or was there anything specific? I'm-
Zachary Spuckler: That's super helpful. Just to highlight, you've 3x'd your list, you've taken your launches to 30,000 plus, you've talked about having multiple launches at the five figure mark which, just for those listening, have been at a membership offer. One of those is the membership, it's under $60 a month and you've done 10,000 in revenue on essentially a low ticket offer. You've just crushed it time and time again and I just want to take a moment before we start to wrap up to say thank you so much because you have played full out from day one, you have tried new things, you have grown and evolved and it's been such a privilege to watch that. And I'm just so grateful to have you as a member of our program.
Marisa Cummings: Well, I'm so grateful for you. You feel like a guardian angel to me, I know we can get a little bit woo. You just reappeared into my world right when I needed it and, thankfully, I wasn't blocking those opportunities like we sometimes do when we're in our head around all the fears that crop up for us as we're moving forward on this path. And I don't know that I could be here without the help I've gotten from you through the Incubator and with all of your knowledge and your guidance because you are also unique in that you really do have this, I don't know, a wonderful intuition, experience of working with people in different industries and just being able to, like I said, you're able to guide people in such an individual way for where they're at in their business, where they want to go and how you can pull them forward.
And it's just really like you've been gently guiding me through this process. And it's just so cool to see things snowball or, as I was going all the way back to my Lego metaphor or domino, that things have just started to grow this way in this momentum and a lot of that is the consistency and I think you were talking to me, just even within advertising, just staying consistent and being willing to invest in growing that way.
Oh, yeah, my Instagram has grown by ... Well, it's over 300 people in a week with this last launch and these are people, again, who care, they actually care. They're going back into my feed and they're finding posts from before and commenting on them and all of that just has to do with dialing in your marketing and dialing in your message and your offer and how you best serve people and then growing in your confidence as you take those steps one after the other. And it's exciting to be able to share that with you today and I just appreciate all of your guidance so much and cheering me on and being that support when things get squirrely and sometimes it does.
Zachary Spuckler: Yeah.
Marisa Cummings: We face challenges, as I'm sure everyone can relate to, in our business and our business growth and our personal development growth and having the capacity for more and you're just a great support for that as well. And yeah, I could go on and on. I'm just going to say it straight, because I really prefer that marketing, too. If you're thinking of being in the Incubator with Zach, just do it, don't think too much. There's not going to be room soon for anyone to come in because I see where this is going. He's a really, really special person to have the opportunity to work with in any capacity and especially when you get to check in the way that we do. Every week, there's something different, every week.
And there is something different that we're all experiencing with our business and I just want to add on this accountability part of what's been so great about the Incubator is that I will get my things ready because I know I'm meeting with the Incubator, with you. And so, that simple truth of accountability and taking action and knowing I appreciate every minute I get to connect with you and learn from you, because you're also always doing things and sharing with us what you're discovering in real time, so I don't want to miss a minute, mostly, I'm almost always present and I want that opportunity to grow and learn and take that and move into what I'm doing next and so having that consistency has been really, really great.
I think, lastly, clearly I can carry on and on this, I'm just really super thankful but I also want to remind people I like this concept that was brought to me, too. Once you start investing, think about it in terms of a long game, really find people, like I said, that you trust and that you want to grow with and stick with it because it's so cool when you do get to work with a mentor for a little while or you get to work with your students, you get to see their progress. And then it's like the coaching-mentee or mentor-mentee relationship gets to expand in a new level of growth for everyone and that, again, makes it all that very special thing I couldn't quite articulate.
It's just exciting to succeed with people all the way around, we can just continue to use more and more of that in this world where we can all come together and support each other in what we're most wanting to accomplish and dream and then help others do the same. I'm not going to sing Kumbaya, no, I'm not going to buy the world a Coke, but you know what I mean. Yeah, I can't say anything more than super special.
Zachary Spuckler: Awesome. Well, Marisa, thank you so, so much for being here. As we wrap this episode, I want to let you know that you can get a full transcript of the show over at heartsoulhustle.com/nyap024. Again that's heartsoulhustle.com/nyap024 for Not Your Average Podcast episode number 24. If you are interested in learning more about the Incubator, the Incubator is our three month quarterly coaching program. We do it every single quarter, it's $2,000 a quarter, we max out at 12 students total and that's it. You get nice, high level individualized attention plus a group setting, you get monthly one on ones with me, weekly coaching calls with the group, access to a lot of the resources that I've created and so much more.
We will get have all the details over at heartsoulhustle.com/incubator. Again, it's heartsoulhustle.com/incubator. We'll also link that up over on the show notes page if you need access to it. We'll also link up all of Marisa's information, she's over at creativethursday.com, we'll link that up, we'll link her up on Instagram. And if you get lots of value from this episode, be sure to tag us @heartsoulhustle, @creativethursday on Instagram and let us know that you enjoyed this episode.
Like I said, this was just an intimate look at what it's like to be in our coaching program, some of the results that one of our incredible students has gotten and I just hope that you could listen to this episode and, if nothing else, you feel inspired and inclined to do something. If the Incubator is not a good fit for you right now, that's okay. We're not high pressure, you have to do it, you have to get in on it. We want to [crosstalk 00:50:00]-
Marisa Cummings: Well, I'm saying that, Zach. Better get in on it.
Zachary Spuckler: I love it. Yeah, I mean-
Marisa Cummings: That is me. I will say this is just something I've learned, all right? When people are good, get in early and don't waste time. Don't move on it because the people who are good, and this can be for you too when you're helping your people, you will grow fast because word gets out. And anyway, so I'm more of the high pressure, Zach is not.
Zachary Spuckler: I love it.
Marisa Cummings: And lastly, do not do Facebook ads by yourself. I don't know why anyone thinks that they want to do that, just get help, it's going to make everything else that you're working on make more sense. I'm assuming most people are still moving, I know we're doing ads in different directions, but still, I'm proof right now that Facebook ads can work. Right, Zach? They're working all the time.
Zachary Spuckler: You're killing it.
Marisa Cummings: And don't figure that out alone. If you have someone that knows that like Zach and has all the marketing knowledge and the visionary, I'm just going to tell you, you better go for this now. That's me.
Zachary Spuckler: Thanks, Marisa. I appreciate it.
Marisa Cummings: He's like, "Now I'm going to hide."
Zachary Spuckler: No, you're fine. I love it. Well, guys, we will have everything over in the show notes for you. Links to the Incubator information, links to Marisa's site, her Instagram, my Instagram, all that good stuff so check it out. Again, we do a full transcript of the show. So, if you got any little nuggets out of here that you'd like, you're like, "Oh, man, I just wish I could go back and grab that little tidbit without having to listen to the whole thing," you can. We will have that linked up for you. Marisa, thank you so much again for being here. You all, I hope you have an incredible rest of your week. If the Incubator makes sense, we would love to see you in there. And until next time, stay not so average.
Marisa Cummings: Thank you, Zach.
