Welcome to the Portfolio Career Series: a weekly email series to help you build your portfolio career strategically, sustainably and mindfully.
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In previous episodes, we covered:
Episode 1: What the heck is a Portfolio Career
Episode 2: How to launch your 1:1 offer from zero
Today, the focus is on scaling your business with group offers.
Most coaches follow a copycat pattern: they start small, get a taste of success, and end up burned out with a Zoom calendar that takes over their life. They don’t know where to draw the line and become victims of their own success.
One-to-one coaching is a slippery slope because the only way to scale the business model is by taking more calls and that means mortgaging your time. Even if it’s 7 pm on a Friday because of the time difference. Even if you miss family time. Even if you are exhausted.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way: you can find ways to reach more people and help at scale, all while growing your business sustainably.
I only launched my first cohort last year and I was honestly terrified. Not of actually hosting it but of not having anyone sign up and feeling like a fool on an empty stage in front of people.
What if no one signs up?
What if people judge me for launching a flop?
The truth is: PEOPLE DON’T CARE.
NO ONE CARES.
In the end, only 4 people signed up.
And you know what: it was enough. 4 people might not sound like much, but it was the perfect number for a BETA project without the pressure of a large group.
I also learned tons from it and it helped me improve my strategy and enhance the experience for the following programs.
As a result, my next group offering was much more successful: 11 participants joined my Public Speaking Bootcamp and it generated higher revenue (3,800 USD). The next one is happening in September and I already have students enrolled. Check it out here.
I’m a big fan of group programs because of their scalability; however, finding the right formula and getting people to sign up can be quite stressful and time-consuming. I know many creators who have spent hours developing a great program only to hear crickets and have to cancel it before even starting.
You can easily future-proof yourself by minimizing risk and having a clear one-to-many strategy. Here are 5 things not to miss:
1. Choose the right format
You have many options for group offers:
- A single webinar or masterclass
- An interactive workshop with engagement and activities
- A long-term cohort (usually a few weeks)
- A more intensive experience like a bootcamp
My first group program was a 4-week cohort, and in retrospect, it was the wrong choice. Starting small with a one-off group session would have allowed me to do some trial and error before committing to a long-term initiative.
Start with a pilot that lets you test, get results, and gather feedback fast, so you can course-correct and pivot without waiting weeks.
A 1-hour webinar is low-hanging fruit to get started and from there, you can always expand it into a richer offer.
2. Sell first, create later
The digital world rewards risk takers. Unlike in the analog world, where you typically build first and sell later, here you can pre-sell an idea, a project, or a business and develop it later once you’ve reached your viability threshold.
It took me a while to embrace this approach with confidence without feeling like a fraud for selling something that doesn’t exist yet. It requires a big mindset shift and forces you to be bold and brave. Somehow, building first feels safe: you know exactly what you are offering and you move within the traditional sales process.
In reality, it makes zero business sense to spend time, resources and money gambling on something that has no guarantee of return when you can secure the market first.
Don’t overcomplicate it: build a simple landing page and a Stripe link to test your business idea in the open market.
If you already have a community, you can announce the program in a newsletter and include a CTA.
If enough people buy, you have business proof and you can start building on solid ground.
If no one buys it, you can adjust your positioning, refine your pitch or move on and redirect your energy towards another project.
For my first Public Speaking Bootcamp, I only started designing the content once I had the first 3 confirmed participants. It felt like a relief, but I was also more committed and focused because I already had real clients I had to deliver to, so subconsciously I raised my own bar.
Don’t be afraid to sell an idea: think of it as a prototype that needs validation.
3. Launch it before you are ready
A group offer feels more intimidating than a 1:1 service because it’s public and the pressure is higher, so it’s normal to overthink it and dramatize every possible scenario:
What is no one joins?
What if too many people join and it becomes a mess?
What if someone knows more than I do?
What if it looks too basic or amateur?
The list of what-ifs is endless, and you are never going to feel ready to start, so you have to start first and figure out how to get ready later because you have no other choice.
The bottom line is that there are only 2 scenarios: you either launch or you don’t. Everything in between is figureoutable.
4. Proactively hand-pick your first members
I can tell you right now who will not join your group thing: the stranger who stumbled upon your offer or the occasional reader who subscribed to your newsletter 2 days ago. Don’t waste time talking to everyone.
Your future clients are right in front of you: it’s the reader who always comments, the name that is always on your feed, the creator you have already collaborated with, the reader who recommends your writing to their friends because they freaking love it.
Instead of bombarding your audience with 10 reminders about the early bird, pick 10-15 people who you genuinely think would benefit from your program and reach out to them via DM. Don’t send a generic pitch: tell them exactly why your offer can help them. Show them you care.
For my public speaking cohort, the real sales magic happened in the DMs. I contacted 18 loyal readers and supporters individually and explained exactly why I thought my bootcamp was for them.
I knew Steve had decades of expertise in change management under his belt and turning his IP into talks and workshops could help him scale his business and drive sales for his new book.
I told Tingi that her topic of motherhood had great potential in the corporate space, as businesses are more aware of the importance of supporting new mums returning to work.
I reached out to my former Apple colleague Jeff, and encouraged him to leverage public speaking to raise his profile and generate leads for his new consulting company.
These are real people, by the way.
In the end, 11 people out of the 18 joined, and the rest were “maybe later.”
Be targeted. Be specific. Be personal.
5. Create a smart tiered offer
Whatever you decide to create (a webinar, a cohort, a workshop…), add a premium offer.
People love learning in different ways and want options for different budgets.
For my Public Speaking Bootcamp, I offer 3 options:
- Basic: Bootcamp only (cheapest)
- Premium: Bootcamp + public speaking course (best value)
- Advanced: Bootcamp + Course + 1:1 session (customized)
Funny enough, the middle offer is always the winner. That’s something I learned from my mom’s restaurant. Clients don’t go for the most expensive or the cheapest option: they usually pick the bottle of wine in the middle.
6. Build something that’s aligned with your nervous system
Last month I wrote about building a business that’s aligned with your nervous system, and it struck a chord. This is probably the most important one because if you get this wrong, you might end up building something that is “successful” on the outside but feels like a burden on the inside and strains your nervous system.
If you are a more private person, speaking in front of a large audience of 20+ might give you anxiety and you might be better off hosting a more intimate program with fewer participants.
If you like to plan your life more spontaneously, as I do, committing to a 12-week program can feel like a burden, since you have to put your life on hold. That’s why I prefer to deliver my bootcamps within a week.
If you are neurodivergent and feel overwhelmed by longer sessions or start to lose focus, aim to host 45-minute webinars and start and end on a high note.
My strategy will definitely not work for you but my mindset will. As I have said before, build a business that is aligned with your nervous system.
If you are thinking about launching your first group offer, make it happen. It doesn’t have to be big or perfect for it to be meaningful.
Once you unlock the key to scalability, you can make an impact that is 10X: more clients and more revenue. All while doing what you love.
Your cheat sheet for today:
1. Choose your format
2. Sell first, create later
3. Launch it before you are ready
4. Handpick your members
5. Create a tiered offer
6. Build in alignment with your nervous system
Next week, we will talk about how to launch and scale your paid community, the backbone of your creative work and your digital ecosystem.
You can upgrade now to unlock access to the entire series.
We will wrap it up with an exclusive Portfolio Career Roundtable in August to meet other creative entrepreneurs, exchange strategies and best practices and find opportunities to collaborate.
Purchase your spot now for 59 US$ or upgrade now to join for FREE and access the VIP chat and monthly roundtables:
📍Session America/ Pacific: 19 August 8pm EST
📍 Session Europe/ Asia: 20 August 8am UK, 3pm Hong Kong
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