Ep 182: Scaling Digital Offers with Speaking (Student Spotlight with Trena Little)
Having a steady stream of passive income seems amazing, right? Unfortunately, the promise of passive income isn’t always as passive as it seems, friend. In this episode, Trena Little will take you behind the scenes on how she has created passive income by scaling digital offers with speaking. You will hear about all the ups, downs, and everything in between.
If you loved this episode and it motivated you to work on more polished presentations, I’d love for you to leave a review on iTunes and tell me about your biggest takeaway. Take a screenshot of you listening on your device, post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @jessicarasdall.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
GET TO KNOW TRENA LITTLE
Trena Little is a YouTube strategist who helps business owners get in front of their audience and build that know, like, and trust. She shares her knowledge on how to use YouTube strategically in a business content and marketing plan.
HOW TRENA GOT STARTED
At first, Trena bought into the “create this course and then enjoy a glamorous lifestyle” way of thinking. To her disappointment, she only sold three courses and one of them was a pity buy from a friend! She started to question every decision she had made.
Prior to having the success that she enjoys today, Trena had a failed course launch, shifted her business to offering services, and even worked part-time with a major YouTube educator. She set up products in her free time before going all-in near the end of 2020.
In 2021, she built a multi-six-figure agency without even having a game plan. Her business grew quickly and there were plenty of bumps in the road. Today, she has processes and systems in place to make things run a lot smoother.
HOW DIGITAL PRODUCTS HELP
Trena says that digital products allow her to help more people, but also allow her to structure her life the way that she wants to. As a mother of a five and a seven-year-old, she needs that space to be able to have a flexible schedule. Having a digital product set up to drive revenue helps a lot and doesn’t take hours out of the day.
GETTING DIGITAL PRODUCTS INTO PEOPLE’S HANDS
The Video Strategy Academy that Trena created has experienced constant updates and changes. It is important to evolve along the way to keep up with current trends and algorithms. YouTube is constantly changing, and she wants to be there for her members to keep them up to date.
As far as getting digital products into people’s hands, Trena says that it comes down to creating content first and then having the programs available. While Facebook ads may have worked in the past, organic traffic is your best method.
GETTING ORGANIC TRAFFIC
Creating content on her YouTube channel has been her greatest strategy. Trena creates a video every week and works on building a strategy that makes YouTube happy so that it serves up the right people for her program. The great thing about YouTube is that people can find her content from years ago. Content that has been created in the past can keep serving you, which is a beautiful thing!
HOW YOUTUBE CREATES CONVERSIONS
YouTube is a search-based company that is owned by Google, which means YouTube videos will show up in the Google search results. If you can create content that provides a solution to your audience’s pain points, you will be able to build that know, like, and trust quickly.
ADVICE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE HAD FAILED DIGITAL PRODUCTS
Friend, there is going to be failure. As much as we want to avoid failure, it’s how we learn to do better. Trena has launched her academy approximately 14 times. Each time, she would figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.
Trena advises that someone in this situation should take a step back and see if there is a piece of your program that you could offer at a smaller price point, and then over-deliver on it. Also, open up the line of communication. Ask for feedback. This invaluable information will help you build your program so that it will sell.
RECEIVING FEEDBACK
For Trena, hearing what others are actually thinking is much better than hearing in her head what she thinks other people are thinking. When she receives feedback from her audience, it reassures her that she is good enough. Maybe she needs to tweak a few things, but that will just make her product better. If you want to scale your business, you have to understand what is in your customer’s mind so you can deliver on it.
HOW THE ACADEMY HAS BENEFITED TRENA
Without the Speaking Strategy Academy, Trena doesn’t know if she would have practiced as much. Going into a speaking engagement knowing that she has tweaked everything that everyone told her needed tweaking makes her feel much more confident when she is on stage. Trena also says that she has learned a lot about how to get her audience to take action and to make money from each opportunity.
MAKING SURE THE AUDIENCE TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THE VALUE
You can offer challenges, send homework, and send emails to remind your customers to take advantage of the value of your product, but that’s as far as you can take it. It’s on the customer to decide if they are going to run down that path that you have created for them.
It is important to make sure your customers know what they can do with the information that you are providing. One helpful method for getting your audience to take advantage of the value of your product is to provide action steps and then hold them accountable. Help them take the next step and deliver that transformation
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Transcript for Episode 182:
The promise of passive income just isn't always as passive as they make it seem. So on today's episode of the podcast, we're going behind the scenes to see what it really looks like to create digital products and passive income from the ups, the downs and everything in between. Grab a pen, because you're not gonna want to miss this.
Welcome back to another episode of The speak to scale podcast, where we're helping business owners just like you grow and scale their impact by speaking on stages, podcasts, webinars, and more. In this month, here on the podcast, we are focusing in on passive income in digital products, I want to make sure that you know how to really leverage speaking for that type of business model. So all of our guests, all of our episodes are delivering you practical training and behind the scenes secrets to increase your passive income and digital product sales.
Now, we're not just doing that here on the podcast. In fact, we're diving all in inside of the speaking strategy Academy. That is our signature program where we help business owners scale with speaking. And we are currently accepting applications from business owners who are actively creating and selling digital products or creating passive income or are planning to do that this year, we're putting together a small group cohort, a little mini group inside of the academy, for business owners with those goals in mind that we I can support you and cheer you on and guide you down a path that is unique to that business model. And you get to link arms with a bunch of business owners who are doing the same thing. So if you are ready to scale your business with speaking, and you want to do it in a way that includes passive income or digital products, head on over to our show notes and submit your application today, or go to the speaking strategy academy.com And do the same.
So in today's episode, we're going behind the scenes, I've brought back one of my business fees, one of our clients, and a former guest to the show Trina Liddell, she is the go to person for all things YouTube, and she's going to share with us the real and raw behind the scenes reality of what it's been like for her to create passive income to you know, develop digital products, the good, the bad, the failed the success. And what's awesome about this is Trina is going to share what that has really looked like but also share with you what it has mean to show up and be the face of those products, using her voice and her message to really create a platform that builds know, like and trust fast. So if you felt like the promise of passive income is too good to be true, it might be. But today's episode is going to give you an honest look of what this can look like and what it can really look like when you add speaking to the mix. Let's dive in. Alright, so give our listeners the quick intro. I mean, they should have heard you before we've had you on here enough to tell us who you are what you do.
Yeah, so my name is Trina Liddell, and I am a YouTube strategist. I specifically help business owners over on YouTube. I'm not here to help you become a YouTuber, I'm not here to help you become like the next. I don't want to date myself. But like pewdiepie back when PewDiePie was like the hot YouTuber, it's not like the kids watch Mr. Beast, but I'm not here to help you become a YouTuber. I'm here to help you use YouTube to get in front of your audience to build that know, like and trust with your audience. And how can you do that on YouTube and use YouTube strategically in a content or marketing plan for your business?
I mean, you're so good at what you do. So good. Okay, so I want to hear a little bit about the behind the scenes of your business, like your business structure, because I know that when you first started, I know it's things looked like. So tell us kind of how you got started and how you like what it looks like today.
When I first got started, I bought into the create this course and you're going to live that sipping Mai Tai as on the beach lifestyle. And I did that I went all in and I sold like three courses. And one of those courses was a friend of mine who pity bought. And so I kind of went into a state of questioning every decision that I had made. And I at the time I was still doing YouTube, like I was sharing kind of my process of doing YouTube. I was sharing quick tips on YouTube. And that was helping me get visible and that was helped People start to know Oh, that's I think back then people were saying, Oh, the YouTube girl like talk to Trina the YouTube girl. And people started Facebook groups. Yeah, inside of Facebook groups, people started referencing me inside of Facebook groups like, oh Trina, she's the YouTube girl. And that's how I started working with Jess, we started working on her YouTube channel. And so I was also pregnant with a one year old at the exact same time. And that's basically how my business got started, it was like a failed course launch.
Shifting to services with Jess was my very first client. From there, I kind of built on that. And then I ended up going part time with a major YouTube educator, I ended up working with him. So I didn't have a lot of time to do client work. So in my free time, I was kind of setting up these products because my time was spent on his business. And so I didn't have a lot of time to spend on clients of my own. And through working with him. And just thinking about what I really wanted my business to do. I ended up going all in with my business at the end of 2020. And thanks to the Facebook ad debacle of 2021, I ended up building a multi six figure agency in 2021, with no game plan, and it grew fast and furious. And with that comes a lot of bumps and a lot of cries and a lot of again, questioning your decisions. But now I'm at the point now where the agency has taken over my life for a year. And we're now focusing on how can we help the non dumb for you side, those that want to get started on YouTube, really for their business. I think when you have both of those in your business, it's hard to equally balance them. And so the agency was very heavy for all of 2021. And luckily, we've got systems and structures in place that I can focus on now the digital product side of my business.
That's such an awesome evolution. And thanks for sharing with us. I know it's not easy to be like, I did this thing and it failed. Yeah, but we all have. And it's it's so interesting to see how you start with a failed digital product, essentially. And you go into full service provider mode. And then you start diving back into digital products, even though it failed, like you didn't throw those out, you went back to them. And then the agency blew up. And again, you kept coming back to the digital products. And what was that for you?
What was it that was making you see like this, this is what I need to focus on even now, like the fact that you're shifting, and putting more of your attention there this year, digital products allows me to help more people. And it allows me to structure my life a little bit. And how I want to I have a five and a set almost seven year old. And luckily, they'll be going to school here soon, both of them. But with that, you know, kids get sick. And as our parents are getting older, and like I want to have that space to be able to have a more flexible schedule. And having that digital product kind of set up to drive that revenue in just helps. And I think it's really important to have some type of quote unquote passive income because we all know it's not passive.
There's this work that goes on behind the scenes, but it allows you to bring some reoccurring income into your business without taking more of your hours out of your day. And I know that it's been so huge for you over the slash, oh gosh, what are we at two years now? Has it been with the, you know, just unpredictable of are the kids going to be home this week? Are they not home this week, and you've been able to not you know, have to clear a schedule of calls with clients or stay up late getting all the deliverables done. And instead you're, you're able to do something a little bit different and get these digital products in more people's hands. So I'd love to hear a little bit about that part. Right? Because even mentioned like the myth of passive income, they're kind of nodded towards that, that we hear that word and we think that means there's no work involved. So what does that look like for you? What does it look like for you to get these products into people's hands? Right? You've made them they're amazing, but they can't just magically find people What are you doing?
Right and so we laugh because I rolled my eyes and kind of like threw my head back because yeah, passive income what what a lie. But so my main product my main program is video strategy Academy and just that alone in six years has had evolutions I think it went from brand boosting video was the very first iteration of it to YouTube bootcamp to YouTube for creatives to now for me yours has been video strategy Academy. And that alone is now on its third iteration we're on like 3.0. So just thinking about that piece, there's that constant updating and changing, no matter what you're in because any industry had a major shift in 2020, and 21. It doesn't matter what industry you're in, things change drastically across the board in 2020, and 2021. And so when they say passive, well, you don't think about the time you got to put in to look at what's changing in your industry and YouTube, just like any social platform is constantly changing. And I want to be there for my members in my program to give them the latest and greatest because we know it's changing as an agency.
We're publishing over 60 books a month for our clients. And we know what's working two years ago isn't working today. And so just keeping that up to date in itself is work, then you've got to get people to it. And a lot of people I've noticed in the past couple of years have used Facebook ads as like an ATM machine, where they pumped money in and they doubled, tripled, quadrupled their return, and that's not happening anymore. And what's happening is to get back to marketing basics, and organic traffic and find different ways to get in front of people. And if we're basing it on Facebook ads, it's going to be a hard time to keep up with the budgets that Facebook ads are going to force you to pay. And so you have to be creating content, whether that is on tick tock, whether that is on Instagram, whether that is on YouTube, to get in front of people so that they know who you are, and that you have this program available for them.
Absolutely. It is wild, though, to just think about just two years ago or so that anybody could just tap into a simple formula of right. If I just am willing to spend this much money on ads, I will be able to make X like it was just like a straight simple math problem. Yeah. And oh, how things have changed. So what are some of those organic activities that you're doing to leverage digital products, right? Like you're not obviously you're not using the Facebook ATM?
Well. Luckily, for me, I always felt weird dumping into Facebook ads, because I'm not a gambling person. And I did feel like Facebook ads was a gamble. So I always felt like, oh, I played around with it. But I never went all in. In fact, I did some numbers the other day for a presentation I was working on. And I spent like 13% of my total revenue on ads for two years in a row and not on purpose totally by accident that I spent like 13%, both in 2020 and 21 on ads. But what I do is the name of my game, right YouTube, and I don't do YouTube ads, I do pure organic YouTube strategy. And so what I'm doing is creating a YouTube video every single week, and building a strategy on YouTube that makes YouTube happy. So that it serves me up to not just anybody but the right person, the right fit for my program, and it gets it in front of them. And what happens is these people possibly are given or recommended one video of mine that may have been from last week. But there are videos I've had from years ago that also still get served up to people and they find it. And then I don't know how many times I've got the email or the DM on Instagram, like I just binge watched your YouTube channel. And so that has been the like steady Eddy in the business has been YouTube by ebb and flow with Instagram, I'll pop on Instagram and have a hot streak on Instagram, but come hell or high water every single week is my YouTube video. And that's what has really driven my audience driven, my email is driven any kind of launch that I've had.
So what do you you know, as somebody who's not only using YouTube and showing up and being the face of this brand, but you're also behind the scenes of other people's YouTube channels, and you see all of your students YouTube channels, what is it about YouTube and this strategy specifically? Other than like ads or something like that? What is it about YouTube that is creating these conversions for you that's helping you sell your digital products.
First of all, YouTube is search based, and Google owns YouTube. And so you're really there for your audience when they need to most so if you're solving their solution, why not show up when they need you the most. So they're Googling a problem or a pain point they're having or they're on YouTube solving, looking for a pain point, or a solution to their pain point. And if it's you that's popping up there in Google or on YouTube. You're gonna build that relationship with them a lot quicker because if they click on your video, and they're like, Wow, I can click really understand this now? Or Wow, I'm able to do this now, what else can this person do? What else does this person have available. And so I think that's what really jumps you ahead when you are using YouTube. Because like, unlike any other platform like Instagram or Facebook, it's not showing up on Google search, and people aren't necessarily going there to search their problem. And so that tends to be why YouTube is such a great content piece for so many entrepreneurs.
Absolutely. And I think to like for you, you do a great job of making your audience feel like you see them, you understand them, you know where they're at. And you're building that know, like, and trust so fast with them, because you're not, they're not just reading a blog posts, they're not just finding a pin, they're not, you know, reading a static ad, there's you sitting here showing them, I get where you are in your business, I've been there and guiding them to that clear next step. Okay, so if somebody is listening right now, and they're kind of how you were in the beginning of like, well, I tried a digital product, I tried it, it flopped, it failed, what would you say to them, there is going to be failure. And I mean, even if you come back at it, which I think you should, it could fail down the line too, because I've launched an iteration of video strategy Academy. Probably, I don't know how many times we're at now 12 1314 times, and we've tried so many different tactics to launch it. And there are failed launches. And that's just kind of the game of being an entrepreneur, because you're going to fail, but you need to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.
So if you put a program out there or an online course that didn't work, I think one of the steps that I would do is maybe take a step back and figure out what is a piece of that larger program that you created, what is a piece of it that you could maybe offer at a smaller price point, because the hardest dollar you're going to get from anybody is that first one. And if you can give them you know, anything like a 2747, I just think a smaller price point product, and over deliver on it, like give them way more than they ever thought and probably more than what a 27 or $37 product should have. But just getting them to meet that smaller price point and showing them like you're here to give them value. You're not here to scam them. I think that's one of the best steps you can do if you want to jump back into digital products is not go all in with that course again, just see if you can nail down a piece of it, get feedback on it, I would something that I've done to is just open up that line of communication I've sent to my smaller price point product like email saying, How can I make this better? What do you think is missing? What did you wish was in here when you bought it, and the more you have that conversation with those people, the more you better understand them. And then you can start building up a better course program, a course or a program that's really going to sell for you. You are so good at receiving feedback, though, like, so good at receiving feedback. And I don't think everybody is.
Yeah, I mean, I will, I am an Enneagram three, and I will do whatever I need to do to be like, if you tell me what I need to do, I will go at it. 100% My problem is just figuring out what I need to do. So if you can get me down that right path like this is the route to follow. Okay, I'm running 100% down that route. My problem is just what route am I supposed to be on? Due to you,
I mean, just sitting here listening to you talk about how, you know asking them for feedback. And I know other people listening are probably like, yeah, no, I'm not doing it. That's it's so valuable. And you're so receptive to feedback, yours. And that's why like, I've loved watching you grow so much. Because you do you ask the tough questions, you take that feedback, and you implement it. I mean, in fact, you just delivered your present your most recent presentation inside of the academy. Tell us a little bit about that. Because the way you receive that feedback was just like mind blowing to me. Yeah.
So I mean, going into that I knew, Okay, I have a really big stage for me that I'm speaking on. And I just want to nail it I want to be for me, again, we'll bring up Enneagram three. For me, I want to be the best one. So I'm ready to do what I need to do. Like I said, Run 100% down that route. And so being able to go through it and actually hear what people are thinking because otherwise it's me in my head thinking what they are thinking and then that makes me spiral. And so if I can just literally hear what they are thinking that makes me reassure myself that is good. enough, I'm good enough, I just need to tweak this or doing this will really make a point stand out that will blow their mind. And so it is hard to hear those. But it just makes you better. And if you are in this entrepreneur online business world, and you want to do better, and you want to scale your business and you want to sell products, you have to truly understand what is in your ideal viewer, customers mind so that you can ensure you're delivering on that. And so I thought it was great to hear people that are probably my target audience anyways, hear what they really thought about my presentation and the content that I shared.
And I think you're just so smart to you know, I think so often people are like, I want X, Y and Z stage. You know, they know what that dream stages and all they focus on is finding the stage and getting booked on that stage. And then they don't put any time into developing that presentation. And more importantly, practicing it. And the fact that you might have strong arm do a little I loved it, that you took the time that you made the space to practice your presentation inside of the academy, and take you to that and have the right have the space to have your dress rehearsal and improve the presentation like you're going to crush it, it's going to be amazing.
And that's what I love about the Academy because honestly, I don't know, if I were to practice it as much as I did, had you not been like, you're going to sign up for this. And you're going to do this. And so it now makes me feel like and I'm going to this presentation with my kids, right. So I am not going to have that time to go to my hotel, I'm like practicing because there's going to be my five and seven year old are going to be hopped up on like, Disney sugar or whatever is there. And I know I'm not going to have a ton of practice. But knowing that I've already gone through it once and I've already tweaked the places that everybody has said to tweak, I at least feel good. I feel like I'm walking into there already with confidence knowing is going to be good.
It's gonna be great. It was so good. It was so good. Of like that's on you, right? Like all of the resources are there. And just like for you, with your students in your programs, like the resources are there. The coaching is there, like your calls are there. But it's only as successful for our students, for our clients, for those of us inside of programs if we're willing to take advantage of the things that we have. Yeah. And I know, like, as somebody with digital products, right, like, we want all of our students to succeed, we want them to be engaged. But that's not on us. Yeah.
I think we can help them. There are ways to help like having this email sequences, a lot of things automated in there to help them like nudge them. I noticed that more recently doing a challenge, the more I can give them homework, or say, do this in or send emails to remind them that helps them get it done. But that's I mean, that's as far as you can take it they can get the emails and the homework. But yeah, it's it's on you to whether you're on a run down that right path they create for you or not.
Yeah, it's such a smart because even outside of challenges and products, even from the stage like it is our job as that speaker to close the loop for our audience and not just give them something that they can absorb. But tell them what to do with that information. You know, here's, here's how you are successful on YouTube. Now I want you to go do X, Y, and Z. And so often, we're so close to our content that we forget about giving them that action step that homework and even holding them accountable to it. Like, here's what I want you to do. I'm going to check the tree and I know you've got this presentation coming up. Yeah. So you're going to deliver it for us.
Yeah, I think that's one of the biggest things that you teach in your program is like how to get them to take action. Because I've gone to big conferences, I've seen big names speak on stage, and I'm like, huh, but ha, that's not what I would have done. And these are people that are like, influencers or like big names and knowing how it effectively works. Just for example, I went to conferences with the person that I worked with for a while and he's like, Oh, I just go to conferences.
I don't really make any money when I go to conferences. And problem sir, I really was like you what, like I make back my money and more every single conference I've gone to and I'm it was at the time compared to him. I'm just this itty bitty be business owner and he was talking on these major stages. It's like, Hey, I don't really make any money speaking on these stages. And I think that's such a valuable point that you teach inside of the speaking strategy Academy because while So you going I mean, obviously to meet friends and network, but I mean, why miss that huge opportunity up on that stage?
Yeah, just preach. It's true. Like we are just like talking about interpret if we want people to be successful in our programs, we need to ask ourselves, like, how can I help them implement this, translate that to the stage, we're doing the exact same thing, guys. You know, like when you're up there, you're not just there to be up on some pedestal or to gain popularity or more followers. We are business owners. Our job is to move people back into our offers, deliver that transformation, help them take that next step, and they need us to give them the action steps. They need that from us. Oh, thank you so much for sharing all of your wisdom, your experience all of this with us. So for our listeners, who are not on YouTube who need to be like yesterday, tell us where we can find you where we can learn more about your digital products, all the things?
Yeah, so you can watch a lot of free YouTube videos at Trina little.com forward slash YouTube. You can also grab my free handbook, it's tiny little.com forward slash handbook and it will literally I think it's 15 or 16 pages of step by step how to make sure your YouTube channel is set up for success to start getting organic traffic on day one. And I literally there's training videos over there that show you how to do the things that I'm talking about. I'm on video, so I need to incorporate video on this PDF. So those are the biggest ways to do it. And if you're ready to actually start putting your system and your processes in place we offer our prep system for video success at Trina little.com forward slash prep and that will literally give you a workflow in hand to start streamlining and Systemising your video process and we'll link all of that in the show notes so you can easily just click in binge all things Trina and do this from a place that's not just getting you more eyes but it's making you more dollars. Amen. I have no interest in being popular guys. Don't care.
I'm not here for a YouTuber.
Not at all. My kids would like to be but that's a different store.
I don't understand it yet.
Yeah, worth we're getting there. Thank you so much for joining me, this is such a treat.
Thanks for having me.
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