Creating a Social Media-Free Sales Funnel for Your Course - Kate Kordsmeier

0:000 Hello, hello everybody. I am super excited to share what is working now in my business to make daily sales without social media. And yeah, I'm going to go ahead and share my screen first. So hi, I am Kate Fordsmeyer, your anti guru and business chain. I'm going to give you my quick bio here. Essentially what you need to know about me is that I'm a mom of two managing OCD, chronic illness, and running a business that's pulled over two and a half million dollars all while working less than 20 hours a week. 

00:38 I launched my Wellness blog in Ruffle back in 2015 and I hit my first six figure year by 2018 and just making over a hundred and ninety three thousand dollars while on my two maternity leaves. And then I turned around and sold my blog for multiple 6 figures in 2021 In 2019 I actually launched success with Seoul, which is my business that I still run today. 

01:02 And I actually met without social media. Yeah, I quit all social media in 2021 and my business grew 165 % that next year. I've now worked with over twelve hundred clients and counting. I'm a certified life and business coach i've got a woo woo twist i've got certifications in NLP and hypnotherapy and Reiki and successful soul is really my rebellion against the patriarchy. I my mission is to arm more wonderful humans with fatter wallets and shorter To Do List. So let's get into it so it all starts with the back end, which is your automated sales funnel. 

01:45 So the very top of your funnel starts with a lead magnet, right this is a valuable freebie that addresses your audience's needs and you can optimize it for SEO at this funnel, incorporate a low cost trip wire offer to convert those subscribers into customers right away. So here is your top of funnel it's a lead magnet or some kind of list, often with a tripwire. The next step of your funnel is automated welcome series. 

02:15 Here we're going to use authentic story driven content to build trust and seamlessly start introducing your offers to new subscribers. So this is a series that is completely automated when somebody joins your list, you start mailing them and you might have anywhere from 3 to 30 emails in that start wherever you are you can start small, but in this you're using that to who you are, what you're about, who you help, how you help them, and you're starting to make actual offers so yes, there are going to be some sales emails and you're welcome steer. The next step of the funnel is more offers with trip wires, bumps and upsells. So here is where we're going to leverage the quiet power automation to implement strategic sales tactics while focusing on being engaging content. 

03:07 So we're going to go into exactly what this looks like in just a minute but for now, just know that all of your offers should have some kind of trip wire or pop offer on it, meaning that there is a limited time window like maybe 15 minutes where they can get a special discount and when they check out their bumps and upsells in order to increase the average order value. The next and last step of this automated sales funnel is an automated Evergreen email series. So we already had the welcome series when somebody first joins your list, but after they've been on yours for a while. The way that we continue to have a sustainable low maintenance sales system working for us is by creating a series of emails that goes out potentially for as long as an entire year. 

04:00 And it can continue to nurture your audience and drive sales without the need for that constant high energy interaction. So using this system has allowed me to quit live launching altogether to still make well over six figures with my business working less than 20 hours a week without social media every and making daily sales. Yes, seriously, I make sales every single day of my offers, anywhere from 7$ all the way up to 2000$ and everywhere in between. And I'm able to do this by having these email series. So for example, one of my email series is called Friday and on Fridays, every single Friday, they get an email from me it's all automated with a special discount code and an offer on one of my products. 

04:55 So after I set this up once, I don't have to continue being actively selling every single day, but I am able to continue making sales every single day, especially on Fridays, which are big those days for me with this series. And so I started just with three emails in this to get me going and then I tried to add 1 email a week basically until I got to a place where I felt like this was good. And then at the end of this series, I have my text set up so that they just pop right back into the start and they go through it all again. So this allows me to know that I'm making at least one offer a week to my audience without having to actively show up live and do anything. 

05:39 Perfect for my introverted self. 

05:44 Ok, so next just kind of want to dig a little bit deeper into the lead magnet, often with a tripwire. So once this is set up, a well crafted tripwire can generate sales automatically, leveraging your thoughtful approach to create offers that resonate deeply with your audience. And this is a really simple yet powerful strategy that allows you to monetize your efforts efficiently, providing a steady stream of income with very minimal ongoing effort i think this is so great for introverts because one of our strengths is that we can spend a lot of time and deep thoughtful work. 

06:21 So you can do that to create a valuable lead magnet and then setting up the tech and by optimizing the lead magnet landing page with SEO keywords, you can actually even attract organic traffic to build your list effectively now now putting a trip wire on the end of this is key because trip wires are a perfect match for introverts they work quietly in the background, convert as leads into customers without the need for constant interaction. Ok, Next up is your automated welcome series. So again, in this series, you're going to want to make sure that you're weaving in authentic storytelling, telling your unique story, sharing your specific journey because that authenticity resonates and builds trust with your audience. 

07:07 So as you can start making offers, they've already got no like and trust with you. And when you seamlessly integrate your offers into these automated email, sequences you can really guide your subscribers through a very thoughtful and personalized, journey leading them to your products and services at the right time without overwhelming them. I'd also say that this is a great tool for introverts because you can leverage your natural strength of quiet introspection to deeply understand your audience's pain points and then you can address these thoughtfully in your welcome and you're welcome. 

07:43 And finally, just to reiterate, you can seamlessly integrate your offers within these series, even if you're just starting out with APS about some of your sales, about some of your products. That's a great way to get started. I also have an email in my welcomes here that guides my new subscribers to either my online shop or my Everything page if you're familiar with Lizzie Goddard's Everything page concept, basically just having a page on your site or having a shop like I have a Shopify store as well. These are great ways to just like send an email letting them know that this exists and they can peruse what kinds of things that you offer and how you might be able to help them. 

08:27 Ok, so I promised we were going to look into trip wires, bumps, and upsells a little more so here's what the trip wire funnel really looks like. So we already talked about it when you have a lead magnet as you're opt in. But if you actually have an, you can do a trip wire or sometimes it's called a top offer on a sales page as well. So on that sales page you might have a little pop up or a banner or something like that that's got a countdown timer i recommend no more than 15 minutes. 

08:59 And then on that not down time, you're going to offer them something for a limited time, right so you might say something like get 50 % off this course for the next 15 minutes and you'll be either give them a coupon code or depending on what your tech stack is, you'll send them to the checkout page where that price is listed. So they get to the checkout page. 

09:23 And on the checkout page you'll add something that called a bump offer. This is like on, you've probably seen these before. So this is where there's like a little box on the checkout page to add something usually it's either a check box or a toggle button or something like that. And it's usually for a low cost offers usually somewhere between maybe 7 to 50$ And there's no hard and fast rule it's your business. You can do it however you want, but that's sort of fast practice and this really helps you increase your average order value by giving them an irresistible offer that they can add on to whatever else they're buying. 

10:07 You wanted to be something complimentary without being confusing you don't want it to be too similar to what you're offering, but thinking about who the person is buying your original offer and what else that person might also be interested in. And then after they check out, if you use a tool like Kartra or Drive Cart or Kajabi, all of these tools, my favorite is kartra, have one click upsell option so they don't have to input their payment information again they simply get to the checkout page. 

10:40 They either choose to add the bump offer or not and after they check out. This is almost like a replacement for the thank you page and it's going to ask them if they want to add on one more thing to their order and this the upsell. You can go a lot higher in your price point. You don't have to. All different kinds of things work, but upsells are great places to add on things like coaching or any kind of one-on-one offer, or maybe it's a larger course that you offer or a way for them to upgrade their order. 

11:12 So if you have all of these in place, then you are going to increase your average order value without lifting a finger except for the initial set of this. So I now have this on every single one of my products and I can't tell you how well things convert when somebody is already ready to buy from you. Getting them to add a couple more things is actually quite easy. So after the ones like up sell, there's an option to get bring them to a down sell page if they perhaps didn't take you up on the up sell, or you can simply send them to the full thank you page at the end all right, so Part 2 is the front end so we already looked at the back end with all the tech and systems that I just shared. 

11:57 The front end now is how we actually drive traffic to your sales funnel. Without social media, you've got your sales funnel here in the center. One of the first strategies I like to go to is guest podcasting and blogging. Appearing in other people's podcasts for writing guest posts really allows you to share your insights deeply, connecting with new audiences in a meaningful way. Perfect for introverts number S E O S E O stands for Search Engine Optimization and SEO is traditionally thought of at blogging or written content, but it can also include YouTube, Pinterest, podcasting, and traditional blogs. 

12:40 So I think introverts attention to detail and analytical skills make them great at SEO and you can use keyword research to attract organic traffic to your content without having to stop social media. You can really create blog posted videos and podcast episodes that reflect your unique voice and expertise. Right Up next, it's ads. So even though you might not be posting on social media and you can do ads through Google, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etcetera. 

13:12 And you can use those targeted ads to drive traffic to your freebies to low ticket offers. This method is obviously pretty effective and doesn't require constant personal interaction, which is why it feels very different to me than actually posting on social media. Ok, bundles and Summit like the one I'm giving this presentation in. Bundles and summits are a great way to reach new audiences through collaboration, leveraging collective visibility without constant engagement it has been one of the best and fastest ways I have grown my email list without ever having to post on social media. 

13:49 Ok, PR and media features. So if you can secure media features like being interviewed or written about or even guest writing or magazines, newspapers, big websites, these can all boost your visibility and your credibility and drive traffic without that need for constant presence. And then finally, affiliate and collaboration. So affiliates, if you can collaborate with affiliates to promote your freebies, your offers, you can borrow their audience to grow your expanding your reach without that kind of direct content daily effort. This has been one of my favorite ways, to collaborate network, make friends in a way that works for my introverted personality oK, one of the last things that I'll share about what's working now is the static 9 grid on Instagram. 

14:41 So y'all probably have seen I mentioned mentioned already I quit Instagram in 2021 i haven't posted except one time since then which was to update my ninth grade which I did this summer. And this has been an amazing way to still maintain a presence on Instagram so that if somebody goes to search for me and wants to see what this person legit what are they about i want to how many followers they have whoever knows what people are looking for that they can see I'm a real person. 

15:10 This is how I can help you. But I'm not on social media and so you can't find me here. Come find me over over in these other places. It's been a huge game changer for my business. And what I just want to add to this is that I really think that logging off social media might be your key to actually scaling up. And when you really look at it, the ROI of social media just doesn't justify the time spent. Marketers spend 16 hours a week on routine tasks like managing social media, which is over two whole work days. But HubSpot actually found that only 14 % of those marketers can attribute a direct ROI to their efforts so the math just doesn't add up. 

15:52 So I encourage you to track your own ROI if you're curious how many sales, how much money can you actually attribute to social? And compare that to something like your email, list not to mention the psychological cost of social media so because somebody especially who already struggled with depression, anxiety, I just have to share this as well. We all know that limiting social media, I should say this, we all know that social media can make us more depressed, more anxious, more lonely, has a lot of mental health problems and if you think about mental health as an asset in your business, which I definitely do, social media just starts to look so much less appealing. 

16:35 So I really think that one of the things that could be keeping you step is spending time on social media when you need. Social media brings you maximize focus and productivity, quality over quantity and networking, improve mental health and decision making, ownership of your audience and your platform and your content and you can create in depth, long form, sustainable, long shelf life, Evergreen content that can work for you for years. So I highly recommend giving yourself a shot with giving up social media. This is one of our other clients, Christina she said since I started working with Kate, I went to make 400$ a, month now around twenty five hundred dollars a month with no social process. 

17:16 I hate Instagram. So it is not just me i'm not a fluke it's not because I had some huge audience before I quit. You can do this too from day one, I promise you. All right so we've talked about the back end of the funnel and then we talked about the front end of the funnel and now I want to talk a little bit about what you're selling inside the actual funnel itself. So first I want to give you just a little bit of background on what I had been selling in the past and what I'm seeing working now in 2025 To give you a little bit of context, I went from selling one kind of mid tier course to then selling 1 high ticket group coaching program. 

17:58 And that was all i sold all roads LED there. And then in 2023 what I did is I took my premium program and i created i, evolved into what we're calling like an All Access Pass. And so when you join the Mindful Business Academy, which is what we call our All Access Pass, you get everything all in one place. So it's not like Mindful Business Academy isn't a course itself. Mindful Business Academy brings together all of our top tier programs and content into one cohesive upgraded experience. 

18:33 So every single course that we sell in the shop, there is a screenshot here showing an example of here's I think 6 of the courses that we have in our shop. They're all included in Mindful Business Academy. So it's every single course, every single energy funnel template training you need. And we're you're not piercing together random tactics MBA is a fully integrated system that includes everything I sell all in one powerful, all inclusive package. And best part is it's for one unbeatable price. So if you were to buy all of the pieces a la carte in my shop, you would spend a lot more money than you would if you just buy the all access pass to every. 

19:15 So it's a discounted, almost like bundle, so to speak. The reason I share this is because breaking it up this way has been really powerful for my business. It's allowed people who want everything in one place, who know they want lots of different forces of mine who want to go all in, they can do that for a fraction of the price. For those other people who maybe aren't quite there yet, maybe they feel like actually I really just need to work on SEO right now i don't need all the other pieces. 

19:44 They can just go to the shop and buy whatever they want all a cart, whether that's a mini course or a template or a training. We sell. We basically just broke out lots of different pieces of the Mindful Business Academy and now sell them all a cart. So we're really able to meet people where they're at. We have a way that we're able to sell every single day. Ok, making daily sales, whether it's for a 9$ course or 200$ course or a Mindful Business Academy sale that's normally priced at 2000$ And so this has been a really powerful way to set up kind of our business structure and our offer suite in a way that works for both me and for our people. 

20:26 The great thing about this too is it might look like, Oh my gosh, how did you launch 50 products in the shop in one year? I didn't. All of these products were all the created. So what happened with the I was listening to Monica froze talk about creating a Shopify store and she was saying how she had all of this content that she had created in various courses and programs over the last five ten years, but it was all gate kept behind this high ticket price. 

20:53 And she felt, and I can know that there's so much in here that could really help people, but if they're not willing to go all in and spend a couple thousand, bucks they can't get any of it. And so she just repurposed different pieces of her programs into shop products. And that's exactly what I did i ended up taking her program actually and how to do a Shopify store and break things apart. But it was a really simple process and one of the reasons I want to share it with y'all today is because I bet there are at least a handful of all here who have a similar experience you have a course, you have something that you've created over the years and what could you take out of that? And sell a stand alone, a la carte option that helps people get a taste of what it's like to work with you go get some quick wins and then potentially join your hard ticket program. 

21:45 Ok, So in summary, this funnel is a very low energy impact system. This funnel allows for really results oriented engagement without draining your energy. And there's a focus on deep work we think is a huge strength of ours to create high quality content and those automated sequences and the tech and systems that are happening in the back end. Obviously it's very sustainable and scalable because once you set it up, this funnel just runs on autopilot, ensuring sustainable growth with minimal ongoing effort. And I think it really focuses on authentic connection and genuine relationships, riding through those well crafted, introspective content that you produce and resonates really deeply with your eyes. 

22:30 So what feels better to you? Here is a little chart that I created here where we have your return on investment so how much does it actually work to get you clients and the energy required? You'll see what I consider to be one of the worst ways to market your business is constant social media. It's a lot of energy, both in terms of time commitment and thought and wondering what am I going to post how am I going to post shouldn't be a post all of those types of things, right? So it's constant daily work and it has a very little ROI. 

23:05 I'm the people I know that are getting any kind of ROI are constantly posting multiple stories, reels, etcetera per day. And I don't know about you, but as an introvert especially, I have no interest in being glued to my phone all day. Likewise, live launching is another one. Now, live launching does have a general pretty good return on investment when you do it right. However, it requires a lot of energy, right? So these are kind of two ends of the high energy spectrum. Whereas on the flip side, something that requires literally no ongoing energy from you are things like trip wires and upsells and Evergreen email sequences and they have a very high return on investment. 

23:54 Again, some of the other things we talked about, bundles, summits, affiliate collaborations, SELPR Media features, these kind of fall over here and the high return on investment and lower energy required. Whereas some things in the middle like personalized, outreach live, webinars sales pitches, constant networking events definitely require a lot more energy. So which one feels better to you, this system or this system? I personally want low energy, high impact strategies and just when you compare it to the traditional high energy sales tactics, it's just exhausting for introverts. 

24:37 So in contrast, this funnel really allows for thoughtful pre planned engagement that leverages our strength and reduces the need for constant live interaction. So there you have it. How to create a social media free sales funnel for your course. Thank you so much for joining me here at the Course Creators Summit. I really enjoyed chatting with y'all and I hope that you've learned a lot. And if you want to grab my freebie, the launch it with Soul mini course is available at the link below. And you can always head over to success with soul. 

25:10 Dot co slash everything to see all of the ways that you can work with me, both free and paid self study and coaching. We've got it all and are ready to meet you where you're at. Thanks so much.