Most people trying to build a digital product get stuck on the wrong thing. They obsess over the course platform or the logo while the offer, the leads and the sales process are still a mess.
I have done over $115M in sales with one digital product. The system behind it is not complicated. It comes down to six areas: offer, ideal client, leads, sales, automation and fulfillment, plus knowing who to hire first.
Here is how I would build a $1M digital product from scratch.
1. Build an offer with a real edge
Start with something you know well enough to teach. If you are stuck, browse course catalogs like Udemy or Skillshare to see what skills people pay to learn.
Then build a unique selling proposition. In fitness, everyone said “track your macros.” My angle was that you could eat what you want without sabotaging your results. That one shift set me apart.
I see clients do this in very different markets. One helps people get green cards with a 90% success rate. Another helps students get into Ivy League schools.
The rule is simple. Either sell something everyone sells with a strong angle, or sell something truly unique. Get both right and you can make millions.
Use the value equation from Alex Hormozi’s $100M Offers: dream outcome, likelihood of success, time delay and effort. Coaching is crowded, so your offer has to beat the competition on those levers. Build in a competitive advantage from day one.
2. Pick an ideal client who can pay
In fitness, I targeted people over 35. Younger people did not have the money, and older people cared more about results. In business, I find 22 to 35 is the sweet spot. They have some money and are still willing to take risks.
You can target by age, gender, country or profession. A few examples from clients:
- Prasha helps engineers earning $80k to $100k raise their pay to $150k to $200k.
- Another client targets Google employees, who typically earn $150k or more and can afford premium help.
- Cynthia sells high ticket offers from $5,000 to $30,000 and up. Her low ticket model was hard to make profitable. She reportedly made $600k a year with about 3,000 Instagram followers and no paid ads.
3. Get leads three ways
Sheer force
This is how I started, with no following and no money. Send about 100 direct messages a day, roughly 20 an hour so you do not get flagged for spam, and alternate between Facebook and Instagram.
Expect a 10% to 15% reply rate, about 10% of replies to book a call, and roughly 1 in 10 cold calls to close. If replies are low, your message needs work.
Social media
This is my preferred long term play because followers build trust and brand equity. Reach out to people who like, comment on or share your posts. Most people will not get strong engagement early, so do the cold outreach first. I am building my social presence for a 20 to 40 year business.
Events
At Funnel Hacking Live in Las Vegas, my team invited attendees to a breakfast club. About 100 people came and it generated over $300k in sales. I told a few short stories about myself, ran a 3 to 5 hour Q&A, then made a small pitch. Events work best once you have a brand.
The most successful creators are often better at traffic than at business. Combine content skill with business skill and it gets powerful.
4. Sell with the right questions
Good sales is asking questions that lead the prospect to say what is true for them.
Two questions do a lot of the work:
- Why now? Get them to agree that acting today beats waiting. If they hesitate later, refer back to it.
- What does waiting cost? Put a number on it. If a client can add $600k a year in revenue, waiting a year costs $600k.
Get those commitments in discovery, then handle objections at the close by coming back to them.
5. Automate the follow up
A personal touch beats automation. But you still need automation to follow up and nurture.
- Lead automation: email sequences and text messages after someone opts in, pushing toward a booked call or a purchase.
- Delivery automation: onboarding emails and texts that send new clients into your private community.
I have used ActiveCampaign and ClickFunnels. Mailchimp and AWeber work too. Pick based on support and whether it gets the job done. We also built our own platform, Elite 360.
6. Fulfill with a curriculum, then hire
Build a step by step curriculum with modules, videos, templates and PDFs so you are not recording new videos for every client. Pair it with some one on one coaching. Start by recording your Zoom calls and turning them into curriculum over time. I have rebuilt mine three times in seven years.
Give each client their own communication channel instead of one big group chat. Results and communication are what drive testimonials and higher prices.
When it comes to hiring, you can hit $1M a year, about $100k a month, with two roles:
- Account manager first. Around $20k a month you become the bottleneck. Hand off fulfillment first. Pay around 10% of revenue, roughly $2,000 at $20k a month.
- Setter second. Setters handle outreach and qualify prospects for sales calls.
At $100k a month, the model looks like two setters on alternating shifts and two account managers. On a $5k package, that might mean 20 to 40 clients once you count payment plans.
The takeaway
A $1M digital product is not about the platform. It is a strong offer, a client who can pay, a steady flow of leads, a sales process built on the right questions, simple automation, and a curriculum you can hand off.
Get those right and two good hires can take you to $100k a month.
Want to know what’s capping your digital product right now? Take my free 90 Day Ceiling Plan. Answer 18 questions and get a written plan, built on your own numbers, that names the one thing holding you back and what to fix first.
