The Growth Strategies Behind Justin Welsh's $3.85M/Year Business [Update]
This is a follow up story for Justin Welsh. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published about 3 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
Hello, my name is Justin Welsh and I run a knowledge business that helps solopreneurs take their skills and knowledge and bring them online to build a business. My flagship product is called The Creator MBA and it’s my 19-hour, 111-lesson masterclass on building a modern online business.
I’ve grown my own business from $300,000 per year to $3.85M per year over the last 5 years, and my online following to over 1.2M. This is my follow up story and if you're interested in how I got started you can read my original story from April of 2023 here.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to. Has the business been growing
Back in April of 2023, my business was on pace to do around $2M per year, and I nearly doubled it to $3.85M with the launch of my flagship product, The Creator MBA. The launch was a successful one, doing roughly $1.51M in less than a week in January of this year.
So far, in 2024, the business has hit some pretty significant milestones. I’ve now enrolled over 30,000 students in my products, and over 60 entrepreneurs have become LinkedIn Top Voices after taking my course, The LinkedIn Operating System.
It’s been important for me to continue growing web traffic, so in 2024 I’ve added Instagram, Threads, and organic SEO to my growth strategies. With those additional channels, my website is on pace to do 1.486M visitors this year.
While other people are dialing it back on social media, I’ve gone 2x on it. The persistence and consistency in that arena have paid off.
After working solo for the last 5 years, I’ve also onboarded my first virtual assistant to help me spend my time better, and give me more time to work on the creative.
This extra time has allowed me to build out some new conversion mechanisms in my business including better email segmentation and personalization using RightMessage. Now, I’m doing a better job of helping the right people buy the right products from me at the right time. This has improved customer satisfaction, and I’m at less than a 0.1% refund rate, which is extremely low in my industry.
RightMessage has enabled me to collect 100,000+ data points on my subscribers, deeply understand their pain points, and deliver the exact right solution.
What have been your biggest challenges in the last year?
Even though the business will nearly double this year, it hasn’t come without it’s challenges. My primary platform for growth (LinkedIn) has gotten significantly more crowded. There are more people using the platform than ever before so I’m no longer the only voice talking about online entrepreneurship.
To overcome this issue, I’ve added new channels, been more targeted, built a new recommendation engine using RightMessage, and also increased the number of new content pieces I produce.
While other people are dialing it back on social media, I’ve gone 2x on it. The persistence and consistency in that arena have paid off.
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
I’ve learned a ton of important lessons so far in 2024. A few that come to mind are:
- You’re as good as your support system. I’ve built an incredible online support system, and a great network of entrepreneurs here in The Hudson Valley of New York.
- You can’t do everything by yourself. Having a virtual assistant has helped me focus on more of the fun, creative work that energizes me.
- Life has to come first. It’s hard to build a business if you don’t have a great personal life. I truly believe that you should focus on building a life first and a business that supports that life.
- Stay persistent. There are certain things (like organic social) that look dead in the water at certain parts of the year. Rather than quit, I simply worked through the valleys and was able to get back to the peaks.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
In 2025, I want to spend more time building high-leverage businesses. Potentially a SaaS business, an events business, another media company, etc.
I’m energized by the idea of spending less time on social and more time with great entrepreneurs in person. I think other people are hungry for that as well.
In 5 years, I’d like to take a sabbatical and explore the world. I’ve always loved working and I think taking some time off to enjoy the work is in the cards.
What’s the best thing you read in the last year?
I enjoyed Slow Productivity by Cal Newport. It reminded me that a lot of the best art and creativity in the world took a long time to come together…slowly. In this fast-paced, crazy, online world, it’s good to take a step back and reflect on that.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?
Whenever I see entrepreneurs struggling to grow their business, they seem to be resigned to growth “hacks” or “tricks” rather than taking a step back and focusing on the 20% of stuff that moves the needle 80%.
For example, I know organic social powers in my business. But I could spend my time doing SO many other things like podcasts, new short form video, AI stuff, whatever. But, when I get back to my bread and butter (LinkedIn and X) business grows.
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
