Episode #090: How Jena Generated $2.3 Million with 5-Day Challenges
How Jena Generated $2.3 Million with 5-Day Challenges
In this episode, I'm sitting down with Jena Castro-Casbon, who has used my five-day challenge framework to generate over $2.3 million in sales for her speech pathology education business.
I'm pulling back the curtain on how a real student has created consistent six-figure launches in a niche market through challenges that convert at 17-18%.
Discover Jena's "micro-decision" approach that guides participants through daily steps to plan their private practice
Learn how Jena scaled from a team of 3 to 8 people while creating a rinse-and-repeat challenge system that runs quarterly
See exactly how she structures her Facebook groups, content delivery, and follow-up strategy
Find out why consistency and repetition (not perfection) were key to her $268K best launch
Hear why offering unexpected support (like 15-minute phone calls) converted 80% of fence-sitters into customers
If you've been on the fence about running challenges or wondering if they can work in specialized markets, this real-world success story will show you what's possible.
Listen now to see exactly how a speech pathologist became a multi-million dollar challenge expert!
Links Mentioned:
Full Transcript:
Zach Spuckler [00:00:00]:
This is Not Your Average Online Marketing podcast episode number 90. And in this episode, I'm bringing on someone who's been with me for a while in terms of following our challenge process. I am so excited to introduce you to them, talk about how we run challenges, how they run challenges, and the power behind five day challenge marketing. So let's get into it. Hey. Hey. Hey, not so average marketers. Welcome to another episode of the podcast.
Zach Spuckler [00:00:25]:
I am joined today by the wonderful Jena Castro-Casbon, and I am so excited for you to meet her. I am not gonna delay with a long windy intro. Suffice it to say, she has been running challenges for the better part of almost a decade now, and, I am excited for her to talk about it. So, Jena, welcome to the show.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:00:45]:
Thank you so much for having me, Zach. You know, I I have been with you for a long time, just like you said. Yeah. And I adopted your challenge model a long time ago, and we're still doing them, and they're still super successful. So I can't wait to share that with your audience.
Zach Spuckler [00:01:00]:
Yes. I love it. And it's funny. I was looking up your, your email because we had we had chatted a little bit about the interview, and I was like, oh, let me remind myself what questions I was gonna ask. And it came up that we had actually run ads, with you guys back in, like 2019 too, which was even, like, further into the journey, which is so cool to think. So I am just so excited that you're here. I'm so grateful that you're here. And for those who may have not, may not be familiar with you, because you're not really in the online Marketing, like B2B space, in in the conventional, like, sell your course, sell your marketing kinda side.
Zach Spuckler [00:01:35]:
So real quick, tell us a little bit about, what you do, your business, who you are, all that good stuff.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:01:40]:
Sure. So I'm a speech language pathologist by background, and I started my own private practice on the side of my job when I was just new to the profession. And it worked out really well to see these private clients through my private practice. And so people you know, I was making more money. I was working with ideal clients, and I was loving my life. And people kept asking me, how did you do that? Like, how did you start a private practice at age 26 without a brick and mortar space, without taking insurance, without a lot of the limitations that people think of when they think of private practice? And I thought, you know what? If other people are interested, other than just my friends, like, people may want this information, and so I decided to package it up. I made an ebook.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:02:22]:
An ebook was my very first thing that I sold online. And, I then morphed it into online courses, and now I have, online courses, group programs, masterminds, all kinds of stuff, all teaching speech and occupational therapists how to be successful in private practice. So my company is called The Independent Clinician. Probably should've led with that. But I love what I do and who I help, and it's been a fantastic journey.
Zach Spuckler [00:02:48]:
I love it. And what I love about it is it's such a niche topic. Like, I mean, it's not as niche as you might think, but it's it's definitely, like, so specific, so clear on who you are, what you do. And I I think that that's been a big reason that your challenges have been so successful. It's like it's very clear who it's for, what it's about, and and what you do. So I know we're talking a little bit about challenges today. I would love to hear, can you just talk to us a little bit about your journey? Like, when did you first start running challenges? What was your first challenge like? And then let's kinda get into the evolution of them over time too.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:03:24]:
Yeah. Totally. So one of the things that, you know, I bought your program or I was in your membership. I don't know where I first learned about challenges from you, but I followed it basically to a t. And, the thing that is so special about how I run the challenges, and this is exactly how you taught me to do it way back when, is we divide the days up into micro-decisions that our people are making. So the most successful, challenge launch that we've done is called the Plan Your Private Practice challenge. And so each of the days, I'm helping them with a micro-decision about planning their future private practice. And so, for example, on day one, we really talk about their why.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:04:05]:
Why do they have a private why do they want a private practice? Day two is about their who. So who do they wanna serve? And then we go through a series of additional decisions, and the whole thing is really about future-pacing and getting people to think about the future. And so after they have made this plan for their private practice that they're excited about, that they feel confident in and really good about, then they realize, oh, shoot. I don't actually know, like, how to get legally set up. I don't know how to get clients. I don't know how to do marketing. I don't know how to do billing, and that's exactly what my Start Your Private Practice program teaches them how to do. And so we spend, you know, five days together making these micro-decisions, making their plan for their practice, and it is a very natural segue into joining our Start Your Private Practice program.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:04:54]:
And so it is just, we also we do it in a Facebook group. There's a lot of community. There's a lot of engagement. There's you know, people go from feeling completely unconfident about the possibility of being a business owner because these are therapists. Right? These are helping people people and not business people to thinking, wait a minute. I actually I don't just think I can do this. I know that I can do this, and I know that I can do it a lot easier if I continue with Jena and her programs. And so that's that's kind of how we did it back then, and, truthfully, that's how we still do it.
Zach Spuckler [00:05:28]:
Yeah. I love that. And I talked a little about this in a recent episode of our podcast talking about our challenges where it's like, we call it the the PSP model, which, again, did not create, heard it from a coach, who heard it from a coach. Don't even know the origins. But it is that idea of you gotta get clear on what is it that your people are are struggling with. And and for you, it sounds like the the core problem that the SLPs have is they're like, I know I want this, but I don't even know, like, where to start. And so you kind of help them. You solve that problem by saying, like, well, let's just start at the beginning.
Zach Spuckler [00:06:00]:
You know? What is it that you want? Why are you doing this? Who is it you wanna support? And then the new problem is like, okay, great. I am clear. I do want this. I understand the big vision, but now it's like, what is that? The minutia, the legality, the setup, the marketing, and that's where you kind of come in with an offer. And so it just executes beautifully. I love that. Can you talk to us about how long have you been doing these challenges? And if you're if you're comfortable, share some of, like, any revenue numbers you're comfortable with as a result of running these challenges.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:06:30]:
Yeah. Totally. So I did look this up. My fantastic OBM, shout out to Carolyn, keeps track of all of our data. So, the very first time that we did this challenge, definitely with Carolyn. Before Carolyn, I didn't have any numbers. I don't remember if I did challenges before her. But, anyway, the first one I have on record is, was in May of 2020.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:06:51]:
And so, you know, fresh in the pandemic, that first launch, we had about 600 leads, and we ended up with $64,000 in sales, which was absolutely fantastic. It was, you know, a wild ride, and I, again, I followed just what Zach said to the t, and it worked. And I was thrilled, and it was so much fun. I couldn't wait to do it again. So we've been doing these launches quarterly ever since. So the last one that we just did, I think, was our either sixteenth or seventeenth launch. Again, we follow the exact same framework every single time. I will say our best launch was actually January of 2022.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:07:31]:
That was $268,000 that we did that time, which was also fantastic. And then our last launch that we did in February of this year was, $210,000. And so that was you know, they've they've gotten, I guess, the best one, again, was a couple years ago, but they're pretty consistent. So we can run the same challenge, you know, a couple times a year and get roughly the same results. And so that's so nice for me from, like, a stability of the business point of view. And, of course, we do make different tweaks. We try different things, but it is so nice to have a consistent launch model that we now just completely rinse and repeat.
Zach Spuckler [00:08:11]:
I love that. And you said something to me that is so key and it's something that we do with our challenges, which is the goal is to create something rinse and repeat. And we're actually running one of our challenge trainings right now, and and we've have, like, people who are doing their very first challenge and they're like, well, you know, like, it's not as good or it's not quite where I want it or like, the data's not there yet.
Zach Spuckler [00:08:31]:
And I tell people something that you said, which is so key, which is, like, now you get to make those tweaks. That first one is about getting the data and making the tweaks and making the improvements. So, you said, like, basically, we're doing the same thing. And and fundamentally, we're the same. We're doing the same thing. But you pick up little nuances. You hear someone say, oh, it'd be so great if blah blah blah.
Zach Spuckler [00:08:54]:
And you're like, oh, that's amazing. We're gonna build that in. Or you make these little tweaks and changes. And so incredible. You've had multiple 6 figure launches with this with the challenge process that we've kind of iterated and evolved over the years too. Can you talk to us about, like, what do you think about these challenges is making them so, so successful? I mean, you know, and so many people run five day challenges and so many people do webinars and video series. But I think there's something so valuable about what you said, which is that stability consistency. I think we hear a lot of talk right now, especially in the online world.
Zach Spuckler [00:09:33]:
It's like, oh, launches aren't working as well or this doesn't work as well. But I do see a lot of people who are, like, holding that stability, us included, you included. It's like, what do you what do you think - loaded question, I know - what do you think is that secret sauce that's, like, allowing it to maintain replicatable?
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:09:51]:
Yeah. So great question. So I'll say that one of the things that is so nice about this challenge launch model is, like, we also do auto webinars. We do pop-up events and that kind of thing. But our boot camps really become a a great conversion event for people who have, like, kind of been familiar with us and but didn't buy right away. And then they get into this challenge launch incubator, and they love it. So not only do we have success with cold leads coming in who are brand new to our audience as part of the challenge model, but it also really helps people who have, like, again, experienced us a little bit. Once they get in there, it's just magic.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:10:27]:
And for my audience, two things that have been very successful, and I can, you know, answer more questions about this if you want. But having a Facebook group container is huge for us. When we when we run ads and when we have people come in, they come through a traditional landing page, but we know that the number one lever that's gonna lead to sales is do they get in the Facebook group. So we spend a lot of time making sure that every single lead you know, and there's always a little bit of a gap there. But as many people as possible get into the Facebook group, so that's that's really important because that's where they're supported. That's where we do the content. We do everything else in there. And then, the second thing is really having a deadline.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:11:07]:
That has been really important. And and what we have is, you know, we when we open up cart after, you know, I do the longer webinar, the way there's some disappearing bonuses. And so we we do have, like, an open model. Technically, they could join later, but we closed down, like, this cohort that comes in together. And we also have we have fast action bonuses. We have mid-cart bonuses. We have closing cart bonuses. And people really don't wanna miss out.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:11:34]:
So they want those bonuses and/or they just, you know, they don't wanna get left behind. And, you know, speech therapists just professionally, we all have master's degrees. We all had to go to graduate school. And a lot of us got to be really friendly with the people in our cohort. And so having, like, a cohort model for these launches, we always call it, like, the fall cohort. You know, they're all seasonal based or whatever. But that has worked out really well. People like to join as part of, like, a movement.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:12:01]:
And feeling like, oh my gosh. There's, you know, 50 people already joined, 75 people. Like, I don't wanna get left behind. I wanna be part of this amazing group of people because they get to know each other during during the challenge, and they don't you know, they wanna continue that. They feel the love. They feel the support. They love the education that they're getting, but they also like that community feel. And so I think that has been really special as part of our launches.
Zach Spuckler [00:12:26]:
Yeah. I think you said three things that I think are huge in addition to the Facebook groups and the deadline. One is that you said it's a mechanism to warm up and engage the people that we've grown throughout the year. I think that this is like one of the huge things that not enough of the industry is talking about is that I'm seeing the people, my personal observation, who are like, oh, launches are down or launches don't work like they used to. It's like no cold launches with no preparation, no warm up, no pre-launch do not work the way they used to. That I will give you. And so people who were relying fundamentally on, I'll just spend $20, $30, $50, $100000 on leads for seven days and then convince them to buy my $2, $3, $4, $5000 product, that's not working the way it used to. And so you said, you know, we have an automated webinar.
Zach Spuckler [00:13:20]:
You're relying on other strategies throughout the year. It's not just one core foundational strategy that runs the entire business that you just pour leads into once or twice a year and rely on. And you also said, you know, we're doing lead generation year round, which I am a huge advocate for. Anyone who listens to the podcast knows I'm like, just run list building ads whether you have the full backend in place or not, grow the email list. So it's like, when you're doing all those things and then saying, yes. Come join us in a cohort. You get all of those kind of, like, I don't wanna say loose ends, but, like, people who just they're they're nebulous. Right? You're just an email in their inbox, but now you're a face, you're a person, they're in a community, they get to connect with you, they get to see you, they get to understand what you're about.
Zach Spuckler [00:14:07]:
And I think there's just so much power in seeing somebody, or hearing them in your ears, like, in real time that adds so much value. And then we're the same way with the deadline. Like, our membership is what we use, on the back of our challenge, and we don't have a close. And I've had so many people tell me time and time again. I mean, I still hear it from people. They're like, well, you can't be you know, you'll never really grow that membership if you don't open close. Like, you do better if you open close. And I'd love to just hear your thoughts on that knowing that you do have like, we do the same thing, limited time bonuses. And, absolutely, we see an influx around that period of time.
Zach Spuckler [00:14:44]:
But I'd love to hear like, I know it's a little tangent, but what what has encouraged you to do, like, an always open model on on your on your offer?
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:14:52]:
Yeah. I mean, I was definitely told by lots of people also not to do that. Right? And so I did the whole thing where, like, we would close cart, we would have a wait list, we would open the wait list, and we would do that kind of a model. And I know that, you know, certain audiences, you know, may vary. But my audience, you know, if they have a bad day at work, they're have they're frustrated with their situation. They're like, I'm out of here. I wanna start a private practice. I wanna be there for them.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:15:16]:
Yes. And we do get that a lot. Right? Like, there's a way for people to buy straight from my website. They do have to opt in for something so that we can then kind of send them abandoned cart ads or know who's, you know, kind of wanting to to join at that time. But we call those bad day buys. And we have at least, like, a couple times a week where and a lot of times Sunday nights, Sunday scaries, we have bad day buys. And so, again, I wanna be there for those people. And so we do our best to have people close, you know, during the launch period.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:15:49]:
But if people ask me, like, when's your next launch? I or they don't use the word launch, but when's your next cohort? When's your next whatever? I tell them, you know, we're gonna do it again in the spring. I don't have dates or whatever. But I'm also honest, and I say, you know, you will be able to join later, but I can't guarantee that the price will be the same, and I can't guarantee that the bonuses will still be here. And so for most people, that that's enough for them to be like, okay. Fine. Like, I'm in. I'll I'll come join. But I do think, you know, there's I for my audience, you know, I wanna be there for them when they're ready because I think a lot of people who teach these open close launch models are not really taking their audience into account.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:16:28]:
So, again, we've we've done things to make sure that there is some urgency when they do decide to do those bad day buys. But I wanna be open for whenever somebody's ready for me.
Zach Spuckler [00:16:40]:
I love that. And and it's really interesting because that's very similar to our philosophy. I mean, our membership is all about advertising. But my thing is, like, when you're ready to advertise, you're not gonna wait two, three, four, five months. It's like, oh, well, when Zach has another boot camp, then I'm gonna start advertising. And and we know that because people email us and they'll be like, oh, gosh. I really wanna get started, but I don't know when your next bootcamp is. I mean, they say those things to us just like you're saying.
Zach Spuckler [00:17:06]:
And so I think that's such a beautiful thing that you said, which is a lot of times like, look, I get it. We run a business. That is important. Yes. A lot of us run this business because we want freedom or space or time. And so, yeah, we have to take ourselves into account. But when we become so, I mean, I know it's bold to say, but even, like, selfish in our, like, well, I want an open close because I want it this way and I want it like that. It's like, I do think that that is why some of the launch numbers are down for people. It's like we we stop taking other people into account.
Zach Spuckler [00:17:37]:
And even, like, you're saying, like, we make an effort to get all of those leads into the Facebook group and then engage with them. I know I can think of people that I've talked to who are like, I would never do a Facebook group for a launch because then I have to show up. And I'm like, yes. You do. You know, and and I think about, like, look, I know that there are some people who wanna make, you know, $200k, $300k, super solopreneur, part time, you know, that's the vibe. But a lot of people that I work with, the vision is, you know, $500000, a million, 1.5 million. And it's like, that is gonna require time and team and structure and process and planning. And I think that that is something that I'm so excited to hear you talking about.
Zach Spuckler [00:18:21]:
Like, even hearing you say, like, oh, yeah. My OBM pulls those numbers. Like, it's little things that we look at and we think, oh, so and so is doing this. But, really, you know, even like us, we're a team of we'll be five now.
Zach Spuckler [00:18:30]:
You know? It's like, you know, people don't talk about that. So I'd love to know with with your first challenge to your last challenge, how did your team structure and what are your time commitments look like to kinda make this happen maybe from beginning to evolution of now where you're doing these, you know, $200,000 launches?
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:18:54]:
Totally. And it has been quite an evolution, I'll say. So back in the beginning, it was really me, Carolyn, my VA or not VA. Sorry. My OBM. I still she's still with me, and and another VA. And that was basically it. It was three of us.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:19:08]:
And it's it is a lot. Right? You've gotta, you know, let people in the group. We do a lot of hand raisers in another free Facebook group that I have. There's a lot of effort that went into getting all those people in. And then the way that we do our challenges is we have, like, a daily video in the morning that's a recorded video, three minutes long, five minutes long, something like that. And people have to comment below. Like, so once they make their decision about, like, who they're gonna see, they watch this little video and then they comment that below. And I used to have to reply to every single one of those comments.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:19:37]:
And luckily, shout out to Britney. I have Britney. I do about half of them, but Britney does, you know, the other half. And Britney is also trying to make sure people are in the Facebook group and that kind of thing. And so, you know, in the beginning, it was a lot of lifting on my part. Like, I was heavily involved in every aspect of the launch. Now my main thing that I do is to show up for the the live training that we do in the evenings. And so, you know, I have a team of now there's eight of us, and, you know, it's an all hands on deck thing.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:20:07]:
So from, like, tech VAs that are building the pages and doing the zaps and sending the emails and all that kind of stuff, we have a head of marketing now, copywriter, you know, social media manager, Facebook ads, all these kind of people, but everybody pulls together. And I'll say that, you know, boot camp is a lot of work. Like, yes, we we generate a ton of revenue, and it's a free event for everyone. We do run these as free challenge, but it's a big lift on on my team's part. However, again, we've made it a lot better over time where we can just really rinse and repeat. It's not as big of a lift as it used to be. But still it's an all hands on deck situation. But I think that's one of the reasons why we've been able to be so successful, and it's also protected my energy quite a bit. When I used to do the launches, I was frankly exhausted for about two to three weeks after.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:20:58]:
Like and I felt really good, like, the first week, but, like, the second, third week after, it was, like, this delayed fatigue that would kind of come upon me. And now I don't have that anymore because, like, my main thing is to show up for the live stuff, engage in some of the content, and, otherwise, just kinda, like, take care of myself that week. Make sure that I'm at my best. Make sure that I'm full of energy and can really show up. And that has been it's just been so wonderful to have a team to support this launch. Oh, and I should say this. Every year, you know, we do annual reviews and whatnot, and I always ask, like, what is your favorite thing that we do? And, you know, what's your least favorite thing that we do too? Everyone says that the challenge launches are their favorites. And that makes me so happy because it's my favorite too, but it's a lot of work.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:21:43]:
And I remember at previous jobs back when I worked for someone else, anything that was a lot of work was not my favorite.
Zach Spuckler [00:21:49]:
Not your favorite.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:21:50]:
Not my favorite. So it makes me so happy that they like doing it. They see the outcome. They see the transformation whether or not, you know, the students move forward with this. I did also figure out that we've had over 20,000 people come through our launches. So that's, like, a large number of people. And, you know, again, a a decent number of those people end up joining my programs, but certainly not everybody. And some people, you know, they come to the challenge, they get what they needed, and either they decide not to move forward with private practice or they decide, you know, I I can try to maybe do this on their own.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:22:23]:
And a lot of times, they do end up coming to join my program anyway. But nonetheless, you know, it's a it's a it's a free event that everybody gets value from whether or not they move forward with my program.
Zach Spuckler [00:22:34]:
I love that. You're saying something two, three things that I think are so important. Number one is, like, it is hard at first. And, like, I think that there is this kind of, like, pervasiveness right now. I think it ebbs and flows. You've been around for a while. I've been around for a while. It ebbs and flows between the two of, like, hustle your face off and then, like, all you have to do is just, like, cross cross your legs, zen out, and attract the money.
Zach Spuckler [00:22:56]:
We're somewhere in the middle right now is what I think, but I still see a lot of people who are like, well, don't do things that don't feel good or don't do things that are hard or do things that are in alignment. And it's, like, to a point. Sure. But, like, it does take work. And to your point, we get a very similar reaction from our team. It's like, they love the boot camp because, like, yeah, it is work, but work can be gratifying, fulfilling when you see people in your Facebook group being like this is amazing. This is awesome. Like, getting results, seeing transformation.
Zach Spuckler [00:23:25]:
Like, your team and your people love that. We we do a theme in our challenge. Our last one was Taylor Swift theme. And my, ops manager, she is a huge Travis Kelce fan, like, pre Taylor Swift, so we have to give her credit. But she always shows up on the fifth day because it's, like, the last day of our Taylor Swift theme in her Travis Kelce jersey, and it's like, I don't tell her to do that. Right? And does that mean it's, like, her favorite thing in the world? No. But, like, your team, when you put a mission behind something, like, they care. Like, those are things that show us our team cares.
Zach Spuckler [00:24:00]:
Our people care. Our our team is getting value. And I think that there's just something so beautiful about that that, like, this it's not easy. And we've even in our new program, and I think, I apologize Jena, because you were in the program, like, very early on. But we even tell people now it's, like, one of the core tenants of our program now is, like, build everything up front because it is a really heavy week. And we used to be like, you can kinda do this as you go and do that as you go. And now we're, like, have all of the pieces laid out on the table so that when you open the Lego manual, you can build it without trying to find packet number three while doing a live, while posting in the Facebook group, while approving people. So I just think there's so much value in what you're saying.
Zach Spuckler [00:24:43]:
And especially, I love that your team loves it. Like, that's that's cool. And it's like the mission is the message. And I think that's what more and more people are getting behind in the businesses that I'm seeing succeeding.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:24:55]:
Yeah. Totally. And it's again, I whenever I do it, I'm like, I should do these more often. And yet I can't quite figure out how to do them more often because but I have I have other programs I could do them for, which is actually something I've been thinking about a lot. It's like, Jena, this has been so successful for this program, our our start program, our beginner program. You should do this for your other program. So, Zach, I might be hitting you up for, you know, what to do for the next one.
Zach Spuckler [00:25:20]:
I'll be here.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:25:21]:
Perfect. But it's you know, this is a very successful model. So, you know, if y'all have been listening to Zach for a long time, if you've never tried this, like, try it. Because first of all, it's been wildly successful for not just me, but tons of other business owners. It does take time. It does take effort. But once you have it down, which I'll say that took us probably about four times of doing it, maybe three or four times to feel like we really had something that was rinse and repeat, not only does it become super fun for everybody. It becomes super profitable, which is also fun. But then you do get to play with things, like some little tweaks, and you feel less, like, scared of trying some of the little tweaks to see, like, what makes a difference.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:26:03]:
And then if it makes a difference, awesome. You add that in. If you're like, that either didn't work or that seemed like a waste of time or waste of money or whatever, no problem. Don't do it next time. But you're always learning and iterating.
Zach Spuckler [00:26:16]:
I love that. And that what you're saying is, like, such a hallmark of someone who's been in this for a long time. Because I think, like, the reality is we talk about, like, oh my gosh, a $200k launch and really successful and rinse and repeat. But it's like, that's definitely not where you start. And you've been around long enough that I I feel pretty confident in saying this correctly if I'm wrong, but, like, I'm sure you've done things whether challenge-based or unrelated that you're like, wow. What a flop. What a waste of time. What a waste of money. And we all, yeah, we all do that.
Zach Spuckler [00:26:45]:
Right? But when you start something new, it can feel a little more daunting when it's not this, like, immediate take off success. But for most people, it does take two, three, four challenges before you start to see that rinse and repeatability. You get the predictability. You get the the profitability, so to speak.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:27:03]:
Yeah. Yeah. Totally. So yeah. So if you've been sitting on this for a while or maybe you've done it once or twice and you're like, I don't know, like, if I should do that again. Like, maybe try it. Like, try it, you know, a couple more times and see because it does - just like Zach said - it does take a while. And, like, there's freedom in in testing things.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:27:20]:
So I'll tell I'll tell you one thing that didn't work for my audience. This this could work for somebody else. But we tried to do it on Instagram. So we tried to do, like, basically the same structure that for us works really well on a Facebook group. We tried to do it on Instagram, and we just found, like, the platform, it wasn't exactly the same. Like, having that incubator of people in a Facebook group really made a difference versus on Instagram, you just kinda you know, whoever's on at the time sees it, and it was not nearly as successful. So, you know, we did it once. We tried it.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:27:53]:
Didn't work, so we probably won't do that one again. But something that has worked is we started offering, like, fifteen minute phone calls for people who are on the fence who haven't joined. And, you know, I have a $2,000 offer, which a lot of people in the online marketing space would say, like, you don't need phone calls for $2,000. But I don't know. My audience has a lot of questions, and so we figured, you know, we had the team to be able to do it. I did some calls. Britney did some calls. Rachel did some calls.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:28:22]:
And our conversion rate on the calls was very high. We had about, I don't know, I think 80% conversion on the calls. And might those people have joined by the deadline? Maybe. But they might not have also. And so it was that was a fun thing that we've done the last two times that has worked really, really well.
Zach Spuckler [00:28:39]:
I love that. And you even said in that, you were like, most people would say blah blah blah, but we tried it anyway. I think that that is what I really see in this space is whether it's the big names or the people who are, like, silently running under the radar. That's what they're doing. They're going, well, most people are saying don't, but I'm gonna see what it means for my people, my business, my audience because it feels aligned for me or it would feel aligned for them. And I think that - challenges, webinars, video series - whatever you decide to decide, I think that is where people are winning right now because we as an industry have become very set in our ways. Right? It's like, do the sixty minute webinar, do the seven day cart open, have the this, have the that, don't do this if it's this price point, do it if it's that price point. And it's like the people who are doing things that might externally look crazy or chaotic or have no sense to them for the conventional logic are breaking away from the pack.
Zach Spuckler [00:29:37]:
And I think you're one of those people which is so cool to see.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:29:40]:
Yeah. Well, thank you. Again, you know, this this system has worked great for me. And so, you know, like, Zach, I literally cannot thank you enough for engineering something that is that makes so much sense. It's so logical. It makes sense for the business owner, but it also really makes sense for whatever audience is experiencing this thing in real time. So I, you know, I have lots of friends who do different types of challenge models. And I've probably, you know, had some things that are a little bit different than I originally learned it from you. But for the most part, it's, like, pretty much the same.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:30:13]:
And the reason why I keep doing it this way is because it works.
Zach Spuckler [00:30:17]:
Yeah. I love that. And and to to your point, like, our challenge system, like, has evolved. So just for funsies, when you started, it was called the 5-Figure Challenge, and then we turned it into, like, this very low-tech, low-effort, admittedly, like mini product. And now we're somewhere in the middle at like a DIY type course that's $397, but it is fundamentally the same. But to your point, we've learned so much. We've we've evolved and we've iterated and we've been like, a lot of people asked us. I know that you're doing free challenges.
Zach Spuckler [00:30:49]:
We now do a paid challenge, which has been so great for our audience. People are like, well, what is why are you doing a paid challenge? So we've we've, you know, nuts and bolted little things onto it. But foundationally, we're doing the same thing we were doing. I think our first challenge is back in 2016. Just crazy to think. But, yeah, I really appreciate that, and I received that. Can you tell us as we start to, wrap up here? I won't steal too much more of your time, but I'd love to know from your challenge where you started tracking to now, what has your total I know you said you had 20,000 people go through on a $2k product. Would you be open to sharing what your total revenue has been on those challenges?
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:31:29]:
Yes. I will. And I'll also just tell a funny story because I told Zach that I estimated I had made about a million dollars from challenges, but I didn't go, I just told him that. And I was I was very certain about that. And I but I hadn't actually gone into the numbers. And so I went to the numbers, and I DM'd Zach, and I was like, hey. I'm sorry. I was wrong.
Zach Spuckler [00:31:49]:
Heart drop moment, by the way.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:31:51]:
Heart drop moment. I love it. And I kinda did I knew you would appreciate that. I was like, actually, it's $2.3 million that we've generated from these launches. And that was like, that's a pretty unbelievable number. Right? And so to to see that, like, again, was so validating for me that, oh my gosh. Like, this really, really works. It works really well.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:32:13]:
It's a ton of work, but that has been a major driver of my businesses or my business has been these challenges. And so, you know, again, I just I truly cannot thank you enough. And he's like, you know, I offered to come on your podcast. I offered to to share this story because I wanted people to see what was possible. Like, this is one of my major missions is to show people that it's not just the person who's creating the product. Who's saying, like, hey, this thing really works. Like, this is I'm a person who, you know, invested in this, you know, challenge system from Zach. I did it, and I did it again and again and again, and, you know, it's added up to a pretty significant portion of money.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:32:53]:
So, anyway, do what Zach says. He's great. He's not paying me to say that, but, you know, he's he's helped me achieve such, you know, greatness honestly through this model that I just wanted to to share that with all of your listeners.
Zach Spuckler [00:33:06]:
Thank you. Well, I love that. And I do wanna give you a shout out because you did reach out to me and you're like, hey, I know you're I noticed you're talking about challenges and and you reached out. And I think that everything you've said on this show is such an illustration of the fact that you are leading with your audience, with other people, with selflessness in mind. Like, don't get me wrong. We're a business. We obviously wanna make money and live a good life.
Zach Spuckler [00:33:31]:
That's why we do this. Right? And and you can play the game of, like, oh, I wanna make a big impact. But you if you were purely here for impact, we would be nonprofits. We're businesses because we want to further ourselves while we further our communities. But I think that you just exemplify this quality of, like, if my audience needs it, I'm gonna do it. If I think it can help someone else, I'm gonna do it. If I can step up and do it differently or better or support myself or my team or the people around me in a way that serves the mission, you're going to do that. And that has been so beautiful to see from afar.
Zach Spuckler [00:34:03]:
I still you know, we're friends on Facebook. I see some of the stuff that you do. I watch and we check-in, not as much as we should, but enough. And so, you know, I just wanna give you a shout out, and and thank you so much for coming on. Again, we we didn't even I wasn't even planning this as part of, like, our pre-launch, and you reached out. And I was like, what kismet timing? Because, again, it's just an illustration of, like, we don't have a big audience of SLPs, you guys. Like, if you're listening to this, there's really there might be one or two SLPs, but I don't think Jena's gonna get a ton of clients from this episode. But you're doing it because you know it furthers the mission, and that is just beyond appreciated.
Zach Spuckler [00:34:39]:
So I sincerely see and appreciate what you're doing.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:34:43]:
Yeah. Well, you know, this is just like a different way to give back. Right? Because, yes, I'm I'm gonna get nothing out of this, but but people, Zach, in your audience will. Right? And so, like, again, because because I don't have a big audience either. Like, speech therapists are there's only about 280 speech therapists in the US, and only a pretty small portion of them are interested in private practice. So I don't have like, I'm not in, like, weight loss or parenting or any of these other larger niches. I have a pretty small niche and have been able to do, you know, really well with not just this challenge launch model, but, you know, with other models as well. But this has been fantastic, and it's been such an amazing growth lever for my business that I just wanted to, you know, make sure that you knew that and make sure that your audience knew that so that they can go out there and change a bunch of lives, theirs included.
Zach Spuckler [00:35:33]:
Oh, I love that. Well, thank you for being here. I will let you go. Before I do that, any, like, last piece of parting wisdom, advice? And then if people are just spinning and maybe there is an SLP or two, where can they find out more about you and what you do?
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:35:48]:
Sure. So you can go to independentclinician.com or @independentclinician on Instagram. If, you know, any SLPs or OTs out there, I'd love to talk to you. But just last piece of advice is is to do it. So first of all, do the challenge launch model, but then do it again. Right? And then if you do it again and you do it again, and then at some point, you might decide, okay. This isn't for me. But otherwise, you might just keep going.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:36:13]:
And years later, you might have figured out the most successful, consistent launch mechanism for your business, which is exactly what happened to me. So try it, try it again, and see where it goes.
Zach Spuckler [00:36:26]:
Awesome. Jena, thank you so much for being here. I'm so grateful. For those of you who are tuning in, stick around for one more second. I will hook you up with those show notes, the information on the program we have been teasing this whole time. And, Jena, just one more time. Thank you so much for being here.
Jena Castro-Casbon [00:36:41]:
Oh, you're so welcome, Zach. Thank you for everything.
Zach Spuckler [00:36:46]:
Alright. So there you have it. An interview with the incredible Jena Castro-Casbon, who has been using our challenge launch system to just create massive waves in her business and in her industry. And so if you want to learn more about our challenge launch program, we have a free on-demand training class about how to run a profitable five-day challenge that you can check out at thechallengelaunchengine.com. Again, that's thechallengelaunchengine.com. Drop your name and email. Watch the on-demand class, and hopefully you get some really valuable takeaways from that. So I hope you really enjoyed this week's episode.
Zach Spuckler [00:37:26]:
As always, we will have the show notes over at heartsoulhustle.com/nyap090. Again, that's heartsoulhustle.com/nyap090 for episode number 90. You can check it out there. And, honestly, I would just love to hear what you think. You know, we haven't had a lot of guests on this show in the last couple years. And I wanna know, did you enjoy them? Feel free to DM me over on Instagram and let me know. I hope you got massive value from hearing from someone else, using some of our strategies. I hope you have an incredible rest of your day, week, month, year.
Zach Spuckler [00:38:07]:
And until next time, stay not so average.
