Since we like to tell success stories from the WordPress ecosystem, we asked Daniel Angeloff from Fastgecko questions about his WP business. Find out what tips and wisdom he revealed to us in the following interview.
Brief introduction - What is Fastgecko actually?
Fastgecko is currently the easiest and fastest WordPress plugin for membership and e-learning sites. Thanks to its intuitive user experience, Fastgecko enables anyone to sell and deliver their video courses and e-books automatically on their WordPress website in under 30 minutes.
Our mission at Fastgecko is to develop the best tools to help people get their first revenue from their digital content in record time and build a semi-automated cash flow business.
In our experience, far too many simply fail because of the technology and never achieve their first online course sales. However, especially at the beginning, this is the most important thing to stay motivated.
How did the idea for Fastgecko come about?
We have been working as an online marketing and web agency for several years now. The call for our own product became ever greater, as we really wanted something that could also be sold "passively" via the Internet without having to travel to customers all the time. This is how we started with online courses on Google Adwords.
We were so convinced by e-learning that we gradually set up further online course projects in various niches (e.g. medicinal plants, self-defense, etc.).
In the course of this project work, we realized that there was actually no quick and easy solution for WordPress to sell its online courses. The idea of Fastgecko was born!
Our aim was to develop a solution that would allow anyone to create a complete membership area for an e-learning product in less than 30 minutes. And we did it! 🙂
The normal working time with the solutions we had previously worked with was always around 8 hours - that simply bothered us every time we created a new course.
What are your top 4 pieces of advice for someone who wants to build passive income with online training?
1. test the market
The first step is always to check the market for demand. The worst thing that can actually happen to you is to create a product that nobody needs.
Just check whether there are already some competing products. You can also use the Google Keyword Planner to check how many people are searching for a solution to the problem you are addressing in the course.
2. bring customer from A to B
Many complicate the creation of an online course and pack in lots of features that only confuse the end customer. If a course participant does not get any results from your course, they will most likely not buy any more products from you.
Therefore, try to structure the course in such a way that you guide your course participant step-by-step from the starting point to their goal.
3. keep at it
All beginnings are difficult - and the same goes for online business. That's why you have to be patient and keep optimizing. The big money doesn't just come by itself.
But once the whole thing is up and running and a few adjustments have been optimized, you have an "evergreen product" that will keep putting money in your pockets for a long time to come - and it's automated!
4. bonus advice
Our new YouTube channel 'Digigecko - Daniel Angeloff' provides weekly tips on online business from the field.
How can agencies and web designers benefit from Fastgecko?
Firstly, agencies and freelancers can of course sell their own online courses - filled with their valuable knowledge - very quickly with Fastgecko. Especially in the field of digital marketing and programming, there is a huge demand for good online courses.
Secondly, the market for digital information products is getting bigger and bigger, and this is not bypassing the "trainer, consultant and coaching scene". As a result, the demand for such e-learning solutions is also increasing.
The cool thing is that somewhat larger companies in these industries are looking for "Done For You" (D4U) services for such e-learning solutions.
As a WordPress agency, you can really serve this demand very well in conjunction with Fastgecko and get such lucrative orders (€ 4,000+) with requests for your own e-learning platform. Employee training portals can also be built with our system.
We also have our own affiliate program where we pay recurring commissions on referrals.
Has it been your goal to develop a WordPress product at some point? In your experience, what are the advantages of a product business compared to working as a traditional WordPress agency?
Well, it wasn't our goal from the start that it should be a WordPress product. But we had been thinking about going into the software sector for some time.
Ultimately, we went into the product business because we believe it is easier to systematize processes in the business and that is an important topic for us in the founding team. After all, systems are the only way to achieve more with less time.
Unfortunately, our service contracts were often completely individual and difficult for us to structure. We simply spent far too much time on administrative tasks that we couldn't charge the customer for.
What challenges do you face when setting up a product business?
As we already had a lot of WordPress development know-how from our agency business, this was not the biggest challenge so far. The biggest challenge in "online business" is definitely marketing.
If you sell a software product, you simply need many more new customers per month than for high-priced services. You also have to find out for yourself what you should focus on.
I would try to build up a good network of people who are following a similar path but are already one step further or hire a good coach.
Another "insider tip" here is to definitely take a look at the US market. You can learn a lot here, especially when it comes to online marketing. In some cases, we copy strategies from overseas 1:1, which work very well!
In your opinion, does it make sense for WP agencies and web designers to work on client projects and their own WordPress product or should they focus on one area in the long term?
That's a good question! 🙂 And I think it's also a question of where you personally want to go.
Our long-term plan is definitely to create even more WordPress products and online courses for our target group, as this has become our passion.
The agency business runs in parallel with us and generates further funds to expand our online business area more quickly. Our goal is also to run our business completely online from anywhere in the world.
I do believe that it is important to focus on one area. But I think it's even more important to systematize business processes well so that you never have to do everything yourself and can concentrate on sales.
If you had to travel back in time with the knowledge you have today, what would you do differently with regard to your business?
Well, there are actually two things I would do differently:
Firstly, I would concentrate 100% on sales. Before I put time and energy into a nice website or a blog, I would rather make a sales page first and try to sell the product. Only after I have mastered the sales process would I then tackle other things, such as a nice website etc., otherwise you quickly lose focus and earn little or no money.
Secondly, systematize tasks! In the past, I have often done things too individually and completely differently each time. In turn, you lose focus and waste a lot of time. Today, I try to standardize all tasks and can easily hand them over to freelancers and employees. That way you can grow faster!
Our conclusion
In summary, Daniel's experience and tips for a successful online business can be broken down into the following five points:
- Analyze the international market and the need for your product
- Concentrate on sales first and foremost
- Create a systematization of your processes
- Automate as many tasks as possible
- Even if success is not immediate, don't give up!
Daniel not only had helpful tips, but also a special deal for OUT OF THE BOX readers: With the voucher code Raidboxes you get a 10 percent discount on all Fastgecko products. If you write an email to [email protected] with the subject Raidboxes after your purchase, you'll even get the 'Membership Mastery' training course worth 197 euros for free on top.
With this in mind, we would like to thank you for the interesting interview and say goodbye to Austria!
