How an online yoga business made $3,000 in 3 days (with a ‘weird’ online business idea)

This is the story of Julian, a yoga instructor from Santa Monica, California, and the founder of Yoga Teacher Grad School. He wanted to start an online business so he could have a steady source of income and earn more money without working 24/7. Follow along as his journey is broken down step-by-step and learn how to build a profitable online business idea from scratch.

Julian loved teaching yoga but wanted to have a bigger impact than his yoga studio sessions provided. He used Zero to Launch to reach more people and scale his business.

Results:
He earned just over $3,000 after a few days of selling his product and added more than 450 subscribers to his email list.

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Julian Walker fled South Africa for the United States in 1990. His country was in the midst of a brutal war and if he didn’t leave he would’ve been thrown in jail.

Still in his early 20s, Julian was completely on his own. He had no car, no savings, no degree, and no job.

The only thing he could afford was a tiny one-bedroom apartment in southern California. And the only jobs he qualified for paid minimum wage.

“Those jobs had no meaning. They weren’t helping me get to where I wanted to be in life.”

Julian realized he’d be better off starting his own business where he could make his own way and earn a much better income.

“I was in a situation where I was just surviving. I wanted to make my life meaningful and I started by doing things I was passionate about.”

Transforming his passions into a real business

Julian had always been fascinated by “inner-work”: how to heal, grow, and become a better person.

But he had no idea how to turn that passion into a real business.

“If you’d told me that I could mix together my love of music, psychology, meditation, and yoga and somehow bring them all together to create a business, I would have said you were insane.”

But that’s exactly what he did when he started building his brick and mortar yoga business.

“I just stayed with my passion and my yoga instruction business blossomed into something I’m really proud of.”

Julian loved that he could now make a living sharing his passion with the world. But one day he realized he needed to start thinking further ahead.

“I was doing really well. But I was in a sector that doesn’t have any benefits, that doesn’t have built-in retirement plans, and that doesn’t have anything guaranteed.”

Shortly after realizing this he spent weeks combing through websites to find ways to build an additional income stream and better leverage his time.

That’s when he stumbled upon Zero to Launch. And decided to build his own online business.

“Within hours, more than 100 people joined my email list”

“I looked at Zero to Launch as something that could get me to that next level in terms of starting to build something for myself that — 10, 15, 20 years down the line — could be a stream of income, compensating for the fact that I don’t have an employer-sponsored retirement account.”

But for Julian, it wasn’t just about the money. “I genuinely want to help new yoga teachers out. It was inspiring to see these Facebook threads of 100, 200 comments of people saying ‘Julian, this is where I feel defeated’ and ‘Julian, this where I’m stuck and can’t seem to break through. And then I was able to help them fix those problems with my online business.'”

Within hours of launching more than 100 people signed up for Julian’s email list. “That’s when the light bulb started to go off for me — I knew that I was onto something.”

Two successful product launches and $3,000+ in just a few days

Julian grew his email list to more than 450 in just a few months.

That’s when he decided to turn the free content he’d been giving away into a course. “People had all the information they needed, but I wanted to give them structure, have videos, and be able to interact with them to make sure they got results.”

His first online product was called Ultimate Music Mastery, which teaches yoga instructors how to create a great playlist for their classes.

The course sold for $57 and 26 of his subscribers bought it immediately.

“I earned more than $1,500 in that launch and started to feel the power of an online business — Not just with the revenue but also with the impact you can have on people’s lives.”

His students begged him for more. So Julian launch another (more expensive) product, Keys to Freedom.

This time he priced the course at $97 and 16 people bought. That’s another $1,500 he earned in just a few days. “I basically paid for the entire Zero to Launch System in just of few days of selling these courses.”

Julian says he remembers the day of his second successful launch for a couple of reasons: “One, it was [a] really emotionally satisfying process to really help my students out. And two, I began to see the magic of passive income and I knew I could have that there for me in retirement later on.”

For anyone starting out with an online business Julian recommends that people “Don’t be afraid of failing. Just keep moving in the right direction. And know that if you stick with it, it’s just a matter of continuing to grow and fine-tune your business over time. I had possibly one of the weirdest business ideas — teaching yoga instructors how to create playlists — but it worked and people are really happy with the course.”

Jumpstart your own online business

What if you could build an online business that PAYS YOU to live the life you’ve always wanted? No matter how weird or “niche” your skills are, you can turn them into a successful online business. Julian did it, and you can, too.

Find inspiration and get started today with this free downloadable PDF guide, 30 successful online businesses you can model. This will prove how your existing skills can make you money.