The Way Millie Adrian Made $400K by Instructing Aspiring Social Media Influencers
Millie Adrian is on a goal to show aspiring social media influencers how to make money using Instagram.
Her love for content creation was first discovered at a young age. In 2008, she created her own YouTube channel along with her younger brother, which lasted nine years. "It was for fun," she says. "We produced silly videos, skits, mock-ups and tried out various ways to live our lives. ."
Once she landed a corporate job in her early 20s and was bored with the artistic outlet that making videos gave her. So much so that she decided to give it a go Instagram writing on the side of her work. She advertised herself as a lifestyle blogger and shared "anything and everything," sharing photos related to food, fashion, travel, coffee, wine, books and her pet.
Her Instagram account @itsmodernmillie quickly grew and soon she was getting asked various questions from her fans. They wanted to know why she was expanding, how she took specific pictures and why she was getting so much engagement. To give her followers the most accurate answers possible She decided to create an additional YouTube channel. In the course of time, teaching on Instagram turned into her specialization.
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"My YouTube was growing as did my Instagram was growing which led to the whole effect of aiding more people," she explains. "I wanted to see which platform took off before deciding to go with the platform that was successful. But they really just connected naturally ."
In October 2019, she quit her corporate job and became full-time creator of content. Sincethen, she's accumulated an Instagram following that is 117K. She also has a YouTube channel with 246k subscribers andfollowing the launch of online classes in 2021 -- enrolled 600 students and generated more than $400,000 in revenue. "Next year, I want to reach seven figures,"" she says beaming.
Here are 10 of the ways she made more than six figures during her initial 16 months of selling her courses:
Skip ahead:
- She followed her gut
- She launched three different courses
- She conducted market research to figure out the right pricing
- She created her content based on what her audience would like to hear.
- She is constantly improving the learning experience for her students.
- She was generous in sharing her expertise
- She created a simple sales funnel
- She offered freebies for every course
- She was able to overcome burnout
- She remains constant
She followed her gut
In her job, Adrian created content for Instagram and Youtube at weekends. This outlet began to reignite her sense of creativity, as she began to crave more time for it.
While she loved the 9-5 work schedule but she started to feel an unsettling "gut feeling" of knowing she was destined for more. "I couldn't sleep because the inside of me was telling me that I had the potential to dream even higher," she shares. "I believed there was something an opportunity for me to be a part of something bigger than the ."
The decision was made to leave when she had consistently earned about half of the money she was earning at her previous corporate job through content creation. "Everyone will be faced with various non-negotiables to make for the change," she says.
Once she achieved this target, she quit the job she was working in and joined the realm of self-employment in October 4th, 2019. With the support of her followers and more time on her hands, she decided that the next step of her journey was online course creation.
She launched three different courses
In the present, Adrian has three courses: The Modern Influencer, the course with the highest price priced at $997 USD. Email List 101, which is her intermediate-ticket course costing $297 USD as well as The Reels Roadmap. This is the course with the lowest price at $197 USD. Each of her courses teaches individuals how to become an online creator of content however,"The Modern Influencer is the one she focuses on most.
At first, the company called The Modern Influencer that she launched in June 2021 began with a six-week coaching group session for $597. Then, she decided to convert the group program into a three-month, one-on-one coaching program. But Adrian soon learned that she wasn't in the ability to train thousands of students one-on-one. Adrian decided to transform"The Modern Influencer into a pre-recorded course instead.
When looking for the right online course hosting service the platform she chose was the platform after she had taken several of online courses, and as a student, was her most-loved.
"From the perspective of a student this is the most efficient way to learn and the most straightforward."
In addition to offering three courses, she now provides additional resources she upsells at checkout to increase the amount of money she makes, including Pitch Email Templates, Pitch Slide Deck Template, Kit Guide for Media, Kit Guide, and 100plus caption ideas.
She did market research to figure out the most appropriate pricing
For pricing The Modern Influencer the course, she performed market research; she wanted to know the prices other creators charged for similar courses. She also compared her content to theirs. "I studied what they were teaching, and my own teaching style about," she says.
"I couldn't locate a class that covered the use of Instagram as well as brand collaborations. I bundled the two together," continues Adrian. "That's how I was able to determine the appropriate price ."
Her content was created based on what her audience would like to hear.
Adrian crafted her courses not only on what she was looking to impart and what programs were not available.
She asked her audience what percentage of them have taken an Instagram-related course Instagram as well as what they wished they'd learned but did not. In the next step, she designed The Modern Influencer's curriculum by "brain-dumping" everything she knew on sticky notepads. "The table was a disaster of sticky notes" she laughs.
She sorted the sticky notes starting from A to Z, covering all the information needed for somebody to transition from being completely ignorant about Instagram to being a full-time creator of content. Every A to Z topic became modulesand the other sticky notes became lessons. While she says that the class is predominantly focused on Instagram, it's constantly evolving and every year she will add more lessons. Additionally, she's planning on herself adding lessons on YouTube and TikTok as that's what her audience is looking for.
Each of her classes is taught using a variety of formats; she switches between videos of her talking slideshows, slide presentations, and screen recordings. "It is all about the subject and how I believe the students will best digest the information," she says.
Additionally, her material is completely pre-recorded and has only an occasional Q&A segment that she hosts on her Facebook page.
She is constantly improving her students' experiences
Her Facebook group is the place where The Modern Influencer students are included. The students have access for life to the group and it gives them a place where they can continually ask questions on content creation.
Apart from the Facebook page She's also played around with several ways to keep people engaged within The Modern Influencer She's considering developing a Modern Influencer certification that shows they've taken the course and are certified influencers. Plus, she wants to connect those who've completed the certification to brand deals on a PR list. "I do not want to become an agent, I want to give people an opportunity to move on," she says.
She also wants to give her students the chance to be affiliates of the class, which means that Adrian will offer students a portion of the tuition cost by referring students. "Those are a few ideas we're playing with, and we'd like to come up with solid strategies next year," she explains.
She was generous in sharing her knowledge
Her followers are young influencers - also known as creators of content who wish to be the face of their brand's online presence.
"I don't work with businesses or any other person who does not want to get on camera as a majority of the strategies I use involves creating an emotional connection with your audience on camera," she says.
Just like her students creating Adrian's fan base required stepping outside of her comfort zone -- however, she puts it, "you don't grow from areas of comfort."
She claims she developed her audience through making herself available for education. "For many years I attended free webinars and analyzing how other people's activities were being done," she says. "I quickly noticed the change in my life as I began purchasing online classes to yield the results I desired. ."
Her top tip to help content creators build their following is to share their ideas for what they would like to share She strongly believes that creators should not be an information gatekeeper.
"Don't keep a secret about what you know, give away the knowledge that you have.Once I told myself'screw it' and just started teaching everything I knew without the intent of getting paid My audience came to me."
She created a simple sales funnel
In lieu of getting overwhelmed by fancy sales funnels, Adrian decided to keep the funnel basic.
In the months leading up to when she started The Modern Influencer, she set up a waitlist on the Google form and put the URL on her site and all of her social media sites. After launching her course, she had a warm audience of people waiting for her emails.
She recommends that course creators stay clear of funnels that scare the audience. Instead her advice is to make a funnel that is simple, such as waiting lists so that they are able to generate leads and have people ready to buy their course after it's been launched.
She gave away freebies to each of the courses.
The sales funnel of Adrian is now a bit more elaborate and includes free materials that are in line with her classes. "When someone downloads the freebie , or interacts with it, they'll be put into an email automatization system, which will eventually upsell them by sending them emails" she explains.
For the Modern Influencer, she has a 60-minute webinar that teaches the 100-day Instagram strategy -- i.e. what people must do to reach 10,000 followers and make $1000 within 100 days. At the end of the free course, participants are upsold the program.
For The Email List 101 course, there is a cost-free, ten-page download that teaches users how to create, grow and serve an email list. Then, for The Reels Roadmap course, the course is free and will help people to boost the number of views, attract attention and help their reels become viral.
She overcame burnout
While Adrian's company is growing rapidly, it came at an expense: her mental well-being.
Although she had the job of her dreams, she was caught in an over-working pattern. "I worked every waking hour of every day," the woman says.
In the aftermath of suffering from burning out and panic attacks over a period of time following the first time she launched her course, she decided to hire an assistant to handle the administration of her enterprise. "If I'm not making videos, my business will die," she explains.
She now has an online business manager as well as a funnel strategist an expert in community and engagement and a virtual assistant video editors, a brand collaborations manager as well as an SEO expert, and a Pinterest manager. After bringing on a team, she's create more personal and professional guidelines for taking care of herself. As a result? The freedom to focus on making content instead of getting lost in the details. "I've had to learn lots about myself to not hit these tipping points," she says.
She remains constant
One of the biggest points that Adrian learned throughout her content creation journey -as well as her burnout experiences -was that this is a marathon not a sprint. Adrian suggests that all creators adopt this approach, as well, particularly for avoiding burnout and creating an enterprise that will last.
"You're in it for the long-term," she explains. "You do not need to be seeing the results immediately and neither do you require immediate gratification."
She advises entrepreneurs to focus on their company every day, in tiny chunks. "It isn't necessary to have everything be done at the same time," she adds. "This is the long game. If this is what you're trying to achieve then improve 1% each day. If you take it one piece at a time over the course of three years, you're going to see so much more success than anybody who tried to do everything at the same time. ."
Her greatest achievement has been obtaining her YouTube Play Button -- an award given to the platform's most popular channels. "It was a full circle moment of my journey," she tells us and smiles. "I wish I could return in time to inform twelve year old Millie that the dreams she had in her heart could happen ."
Another thing she wished she could go back in time and tell herself was to be a believer in the process. For those who are aspiring to become online creators She suggests that they focus on the results of slow, constant progress. "Don't focus on the time it takes to complete your work," she advises.
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