Unique Facebook marketing techniques to grow your online training business today! (Interview with Alex Storm)

Highlights from the interview

[12:33] – Step-by-step guide on how to launch your own online fitness business

[20:28] – A business model for trainers who want to start training clients online today without a website

[26:20] – New online strategy using Facebook in a totally different way to grow your audience online

[34:01] – How Facebook advertising during the quarantine is actually a big opportunity

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About our Guest

From graphic designer to internet marketing genius

I am so excited today because I’m talking to Alex Storm. He’s the founder of Christian Freelance Academy. 

Alex helps entrepreneurs launch and grow a successful online business through effective client-getting methods, online marketing strategies, FacebookAd strategies and customer funnels.

He helps people basically create their own online business. He has a great system, and lots of good videos on his Facebook group.

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Edited transcription of Fitness Business Secrets Podcast, Episode 12

Kristy: Hey, Fitness Business Secrets listeners. I’m so excited. I have Alex Storm here. He’s not actually a superhero. It sounds like a superhero name, but I think he does superhero things with his clients. He’s an internet marketing genius. 

From his website, he has a lot of great testimonials for what he’s done. He helps people basically create their own online business. He has a great system, lots of good videos on his Facebook group. So, I’m so excited to have you, Alex, how are you doing today? 

Alex: I’m doing great. Wonderful. Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here. 

Kristy: Awesome. Could you tell me just a little bit about yourself and how you got into the internet marketing space?

Alex: So, I’ve been freelancing for about eight years now, and I started as a graphic designer, which was really fun for a year or two. But then as I started getting more and more into business helping people, I really discovered the passion for the strategy and the marketing side of things. 

That really kind of peaked my interest and I started learning more about content marketing and Facebook ads and email marketing, things like that.

So, combining all of my skills and passions together, I’ve really kind of focused in on this one passion of mine, which is helping businesses scale with their online marketing. 

Kristy: Awesome. Okay. So, you started off in graphic design and now you got into a whole array of things to help people, I guess, have a successful online business.

I’m particularly interested in fitness professionals who want to bring their fitness business online somehow. I think the first thought is, what would I even do? It’s fitness where I usually physically fix people and train them. Do you have any experiences with any clients who had a successful online fitness business?

Alex: Absolutely. So, I’ve worked with a handful of trainers and fitness professionals, and I’ve helped them really just kind of take their skills and their expertise, but package it in a way so that they can help more and more people and really grow an online community. Which is moving forward, I think is a very smart strategy and way to go.

Kristy: Could you give me some examples of what that could look like? Because I think for some people listening, that’s just a whole new concept. I mean, they get that. Some people do some fitness classes, but what would that even look like? 

Let’s say we have “Joe” the trainer and he has clients in person. He helps people reach their weight loss goals in 12 to 18 weeks. What could that look like as a business for him? 

Creating an online community thru Facebook groups

Alex: So, it would really come down to knowing who your main audience is and how you can help solve problems for multiple people at the same time. So, we’d get into group coaching.

So, figuring out how you can make an online community, maybe in Facebook groups or a personal business page or Instagram, and somehow package your offer so that you can help people accomplish their goals and build that community so that they’re building relationships with each other and they’re moving forward through their problems and getting through their goals, together as a group.

So, it’s moving away from the one-on-one and helping more people together at the same time. 

Kristy: How does online group coaching work or how have you seen it work successfully? 

Alex: I think the best way is inside Facebook groups. It’s built just for that purpose where you can jump on a Facebook live or you can start a webinar through a Zoom platform.

You’re reaching maybe dozens or even hundreds of people at the same time, answering questions and really helping people live, right there inside the group. 

Kristy: Yeah. In this situation, are you charging them? Or different scenarios where you do or don’t charge them? 

Alex: Yeah. So, I think it depends. A trainer needs to focus on lead generation.

So, you can build a community and offer free training to get people to know what your services are, who you are as a professional, and then you can upsell them into your premium classes and courses.

Or maybe it’s a little bit more one-on-one, Q and A, and helping with each other and answering specific questions and needs.

And really getting them into your premium offers and services.

Kristy: Okay. Awesome. Could you give us an example of a client in the fitness realm and what they did? If for some reason you can’t use the name, you can always use a vague name; but if maybe they’d like to be promoted anyways. 

Alex: Sure. Well, I’ll give a first name. I actually have a friend.

Her name is Jamie and she’s a fitness professional. She lived in California for a while, but decided that she wanted to take her business online and move to Hawaii.

Kristy: I’m from Hawaii actually.

Alex: Oh, wonderful. Yeah.

Great. So, she’s loving life. She did that about a year ago, and she’s 100% online now. She’s handling all of her classes through Facebook groups and then she uses that as our lead generation to build an online community.

Then the clients that want to take that a step further, she sends them onto a Zoom platform where she has a little bit more one on one interaction with her clients.

Kristy: How cool. Okay. This one on one interaction with the clients through Zoom, does she actually train them through that one on one or just checking calls? Do you know? 

Alex: Well, I believe a little bit of both. 

Kristy: Neat. For the classes, did she offer free classes in her private Facebook group through Facebook live?

Alex: Yeah. So, she does a Pilates class once a week, and I think she does a couple of yoga morning classes as well.

Then she’s always just in the group answering questions, providing value, creating that content that actually meets people’s needs and gets them excited about their health, changing their life, really getting them emotionally invested in their problems.  

Kristy: Do you happen to know how she’s doing? Just because that sounds really cool and for a lot of people, they would be like, does that work? Do you really get clients from that? 

Alex: Yeah. She is growing her business and as far as I know, she’s helping other trainers get their business online as well.

So, it definitely works. Especially now that everyone’s quarantined and the world has changed.

Kristy: Yeah. Do you have any clients or anyone you know who created a business and integrated a series of videos?

Alex: Yes. So, one of my clients right now is actually launching a yoga program. She created a course which is about 75 videos, and she’s attaching some PDF documents and images and some other content for training as well.

So, we’re packaging that up into a course to sell for $997. What we’re doing is we’re using Facebook groups and her Instagram and Facebook pages to build a community and get that lead generation, qualified people interested in our program. Then, using all of those videos and content to grow her business as well.

Kristy: Oh, wow. Okay. So,  she has videos ,like a membership site that people can buy. Is it $9.97 or is it $997?

Alex: Yeah, $997 one time payment. They’ll get access to the program and the videos for life, and then she has a premium exclusive Facebook group just for those members.

Kristy: Wow. That’s awesome. Do you know how long it took her to create that course?

Alex: About a month. She filmed all the videos and then had an editor throw them together. Then, she worked with me and we kind of packaged it all together into a program. It can be consumed for her clients. 

Kristy: Wow. That’s awesome.

Okay. So, that’s a nice timeline. So, let’s imagine there is a trainer out there and they’re just getting started, and they want to try to do something online, and maybe they’re leaning more towards videos so that you could have a total offering, where would you suggest that they start?

What would their first step be? 

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Step-by-step guide on how to launch your own online fitness business

#1: Understand what your clients really want

[12:33] Alex: First, understand what their clients really want because there’s nothing worse than spending hours or months creating content that no one wants to buy.

So, make sure that your offer is validated and people are wanting to consume it. 

Once you have a clear idea that people are going to actually want what you create, then I would say start creating it as you sell it.

You want to get people engaged, and get people qualified, interested in your courses and videos so that as you’re creating it, you can start getting feedback, testimonials, and you’re growing your business while you create your products. 

Kristy: That’s interesting. That kind of reminds me of how I’m trying to do an immunity boost fitness challenge that I would sell to trainers so they could sell to their clients. I’m like, yes, I must start talking about it before it’s done. I think there’s a lot of sense of wanting it to be perfect before it’s done.

So, that’s a good tip. 

Alex: Perfection is a killer. It can stop a lot of people from actually getting their product out into the world.

The first step is to just try it out and get some feedback, and then you can improve from there. 

Kristy: That’s great. Okay. So, I want to just go back to the first step you mentioned, which is to understand what your client really wants. How do you suggest people do that in a non-biased way? 

 Alex: You can just ask them. I mean, business is built on relationships, so ask the people that could potentially be your clients, ask old clients of yours, and just get to know your audience on an intimate level.

When you ask them what they want to learn, what their challenges are, what their goals are in life, they’ll be happy to start a conversation with you and give you some really good feedback. . 

#2: Start creating your content

Kristy: Okay. Then, number two is to start creating it. Most trainers who are on a day to day basis, are usually out there working with people and training.

So, they’re probably not going to say, I have all of the equipment, or I’m super savvy. So, do you have any tips for people who are like, “Where should I start?” Can I own a very simple basis? 

Alex: Sure. I mean, just start where you can. Not everyone’s going to be an expert right out of the gate with everything that they need.

#3: Get people results – testimonials

Alex: So, I would just start with what you can, get people results, and that is what’s going to help you grow your business, because people love seeing what results other people have gotten.

So, as soon as you can get one case study or one testimonial, then you can build upon that with other clients and quickly grow your business that way.

Kristy: Okay. So, get results. 

Trainers, if you have a client that you worked with in person, you can still use all those results because you’re going to probably put the same program online. 

Then, from there do you have any suggestions? Let’s say they get feedback that their fat blasting program worked. They create videos and nutrition videos. So, what would you suggest they do after they created the videos? 

#4: Make sure the right audience is looking at your content

Alex: So, the most important thing after that is to make sure that you actually have eyeballs and people looking at your content. That comes down to your marketing strategy and how you can gain traffic and attention.

Make sure that you’re on the social media platforms where your audience are spending their time and hanging out, and then creating content and engaging with people so that they’re aware of the videos you’ve created.

So, that might take some cold outreach. It might take creating some Facebook lives or blog posts or other educational content.

But mostly you want to make sure that you’re entertaining and educating, and getting as many people aware of your services as possible. 

Generating leads by creating free giveaways, checklists and guides

Kristy: Do you have any specific tactics that you would suggest that you’ve seen worked, to get interest in your content?

Alex: Yeah. So, you would want to create what they call as lead magnets, like free giveaways. You can create just any content, like checklists or guides, do a Facebook live, and then once your content is really solid, you can always scale with Facebook ads, which I see a lot of business owners do.

This will help get a lot of eyeballs and attention onto your videos. 

Kristy: Yeah. Okay. So, let’s say you create a checklist or you create a lead magnet. I know that generally you want to get their information.

How do you usually use your lead magnets? Is it just on your website or do you put it anywhere else?

Alex: Yeah. So, technically you’d want to put it on a landing page to collect their information, and that way you can follow up through email marketing. 

You can always use it just through Facebook groups and get people to download your lead magnet right through your Facebook group, and then follow up through a comment or a direct message on messenger.

You can build a relationship that way.

Kristy: Like you post something and then someone says, I’d like that, then you’d follow up through the comment. 

Alex: Yeah. So, like  last week I made a post for a free Facebook ads training and I had about 80 comments saying that people were interested in it. 

So, I sent them the link for the download, and then I followed up with all of the people in direct messenger, found out all the qualified leads that really needed my help, and turned into some sales calls after that. 

Kristy: Oh, that’s smart. Okay. 

Alex: You just want to keep following up with those leads that are interested in your free giveaways. 

Kristy: Okay. I like that. So, I think there was a big Aha there. So, basically rewinding back, you can post a great lead magnet on Facebook. 

Now,  where would you post? Is it on your Facebook page or group, or just on other places?

Alex: Yeah. I mean, wherever you feel like most people will see or get the most value out of that.

So, if you have a Facebook group with qualified leads that would be interested in a specific topic, you can create a free giveaway just for those people. 

If you’re trying to just gain some general attention for your services, maybe you can post on your personal profile and more organically, people will see it that way as well. 

Kristy: Okay. Are there any other places to post? Let’s just say someone has a personal Facebook page, doesn’t have a ton of non-personal friends there, and then let’s say they don’t have a Facebook group, is that not gonna work too well for them?

Would they have to find another lead source?

Alex: Then, I would try and find out where those people are spending their time. So, maybe join another Facebook group that’s already established.

Maybe you can go on Instagram and use hashtags to do some research, and find some people that might be interested, and you can send them a message.

Kristy: Alright, great. So far, we have that lead magnet, put it on your landing page, or put it on a Facebook group, or another place where you can get eyeballs, and you can kind of comment back to anyone who responds, and maybe direct message them. 

From there, I know that can be kind of tricky because people don’t always respond on Facebook. Do you have any suggestions on how to make that conversation successful? 

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A business model for trainers who want to start training clients online today without a website

[20:28] Alex: People want to make sure that they know, like and trust you first. So, it’s really being mindful of the person’s needs and wants and being empathetic to helping them.

You don’t want to hard sell and try to be manipulative with your messages. You just simply want to educate and provide value. Always start by establishing the relationship first. 

So, I would suggest using short sentences, just to ask how they’re doing, getting to know them, what their challenges are, what they want to do.

As you start building that relationship, you can start diving deeper into their needs and wants.

When you provide them your free giveaway, or you offer your videos, they will be much more likely to work with you. 

Kristy: Yeah. I think that might be a good tip for the challenge. I could see if anybody’s interested, and then they would probably show some interest and I could kind of correspond with them.

So, let’s say someone’s like, yeah, well, I’m interested in your program, what would you do next? 

Alex: Yeah. Then, you would try and get them either on a sales call or position it in some way where you’re sending them to a sales page. You would want to try and turn them into a paying client at this point. 

That’s going to happen by removing their objections and their fears, answering their questions, and providing the next step in the sales process for them, whatever that might look like for that individual person.

Kristy: Do you have any other tips because there’s a lot of ways to make this work. Well, let’s say someone really wants to invest and put up maybe a website and everything, do you have any suggestions or common mistakes you see people make that you would suggest for them to keep in mind?

Alex: Yeah. I see a lot of people trying to do more than they should. A simple strategy is always best to start with.  

I would recommend just starting with one social media channel, maybe one Facebook group, one landing page, and one free giveaway and really building on that. 

When you can get a system down, then you can start scaling and adding on other social media platforms, the Facebook ads, and really adding more up to your strategy that way.

Let’s start simple. 

Kristy: Yeah. Well, since there are so many trainers out there, they might wonder, should they still do this? What do you think? 

Alex: Absolutely. I always say to have an abundant mindset, that there’s always people out there that need your help.

The best thing you can do is just to show up as best as you can, just authentic to who you are, and people will love you for you. 

There’s a lot of other competition out there, but the more you can focus on how you are different, in how you can provide better value than the competition out there, the more you’re going to be able to create that space that you need to grow your business.  

Kristy: Okay. Do you have any suggestions on how people should try to find a way to differentiate themselves or questions they should ask themselves? 

Alex: Yeah. It comes down to understanding your unique skills, your personality, your experiences, your knowledge, and really combining that altogether into something unique that’s going to solve bigger problems for people.

So, one person might have really short videos that help people have better flexibility in some way.

You could have really long in depth videos that show off your big personality, and help people have longer endurance to train for a marathon maybe, or something like that. 

It really comes down to your passions and your unique personality, and how you can package it altogether and do something unique.

Kristy: Yeah. Do you have any other examples? I know that you mentioned you have other trainers that you’ve worked with. Could you share what they did? I think some people are still wondering how they could do something similar. 

Alex: Sure. So, the trainer I’m working with right now is mainly focusing on building her audience. I think that’s the biggest thing to focus on right now. 

Without an audience, you’re not going to be able to grow a business.

So, focus on creating an online space where you can qualify leads and get them excited and interested in you, whether that be through email marketing or growing a Facebook group.

I think those are the two most important things you can do right now.  

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New online strategy using Facebook in a totally different way to grow your audience online

[26:20] Kristy: Great tip! I was actually wondering, do you have any tips on running a successful Facebook group that has good engagement?

I think the fear, and maybe my fear would always be, what if I don’t get anyone to talk or what if they ask all these questions and I can’t respond to everyone?

Alex: Yeah. I mean, you get over the fear just by trying and doing it. Practice makes perfect.

So, the more you get on Facebook lives, the more you start establishing yourself as a leader in a Facebook community, then the more people are going to give you that positive feedback which gives you more confidence to go out there and do a better job.

So, it just starts by getting out there and starting slowly. 

As you get people into your Facebook group by promoting yourself and posting content, you’ll start refining your strategy and you’ll get to know people on such a deep level that it’s just like talking with a friend or something like that.

A lot of the scary part about growing a community kind of goes away. You’re really just asking questions, posting memes, posting fun videos, going live, talking to people, and it really just becomes a fun part of the marketing process. 

Kristy: I like that. Do you have any structure that you recommend people do regarding how many times to post, and what else they can do in general to make sure it stays engaged?

Alex: Sure. So, the Facebook algorithm is always about community and engagement. The more you can feed into that, the more Facebook is going to promote you to other people. 

So, create open ended questions that invite people to answer questions, and leave a comment or an opinion; anything that is going to get people to want to engage.

You want to create curiosity or create a sense of urgency for people to leave a comment. You want to post more videos than anything else because that’s what people like the most on Facebook, and really spread your content out throughout the day. 

Maybe post one, two, or three times throughout the day. Always keep the algorithm and people engaged as often as possible.  

Kristy: Are those tips for Facebook page, or a group?

Alex: You can use it for both. The Facebook algorithm works in four-hour intervals. So, about every four hours on your page or in your groups, you’ll want to be posting.

Kristy: Okay. That’s helpful. I wasn’t sure if there are different rules for the groups, but is it kind of similar strategies to that of a page?

Alex: Yeah, exactly.  

Kristy: I noticed your group is public. I know that a lot of other groups are private and they generally let the people in, but they filter them. Would you have any suggestions of which is better?

Alex: Yeah. So, it really just depends how qualified you want your leads to be. So, if you’re trying to attract as many people as possible, you’ll want to leave it open to the community for anyone to join.

If you’re trying to attract a specific type of person, then you’ll probably want to have it closed and invite people that are more qualified in your group, that you know you can help, and that are actually going to be a good fit for your business. 

If you want somewhere in between, you can leave your group open. I would recommend for you to have three pre-qualifying questions for the people that join your group. 

That’s a good way to ask them their challenges, get to know them a little bit.

Maybe you can ask for their email address to get them onto your email list. You can use that way to  prequalify your clients and get them interested in your group.

Kristy: Oh, okay. So, basically it’d be a public group but you can still ask some filtering questions. 

Alex: Exactly. 

Kristy: Then, if they join and feel like they’re not a good fit, you can still let them go.

Alex: Yeah. They’ll understand that this group might not be for them at that point. They’ll just not engage as much. 

Kristy: Okay. For Facebook groups in particular, let’s say you start on creating some questions and try to post, are there any other strategies to keep in mind, especially that it’s different from a page?

Alex: Yeah. So, in your Facebook groups, it’s mostly about building community.

So, your Facebook personal page is mostly about growing your personal brand. Your business page is about the services you offer and the sales part of it. 

Your Facebook group is about building a community. So, it’s mostly about the relationships, and actually providing valuable content that is entertaining and educational for your audience.

Kristy: Entertaining and educational. Okay. I have a really big question. So, I’m not necessarily someone who posts personal things on my Facebook page. So, I’m starting to think that I should just make it a personal business page in a way. 

It’s still my personal page, and I’ll still put some personal posts but the end goal is that I’d be connecting as a friend, almost like a LinkedIn with other people.

It keeps it feeling personal because I wouldn’t post so many personal things on the business page. Does that sound like a good strategy? I don’t use it otherwise for personal things.

Alex: So, that’s a good idea to use your personal page for business purposes and connect with people that way. I do know that Facebook is cracking down a little bit on making sure people are separating their business page from their personal page though . 

So, make sure that you’re using your personal page to make some real authentic relationships and connections. 

If you’re just using your personal page to hard sell people, making offers all the time and don’t actually have anything engaging or worthwhile for people, Facebook isn’t going to like you very much. You might get penalized for it.

So, use your personal profile for business, but make sure that you’re keeping it authentic and relational at the same time. 

Kristy: Got it. Okay. That makes more sense. I think that I’m totally on the other side of the spectrum because in a way, people who I’ve interviewed wanted to connect on my personal page. So, I’m kind of thinking that if I  put random personal images, it’s not very professional.

I would want them to see more of my personal posts but in a fitness setting. So, I was thinking I should update it more, but you’re also right that we can’t just hard sell because that would penalize our page. 

Alex: Yeah. Keep all your hard selling for your business page. That’s what it’s about. 

Kristy: Okay, got it. Now, here’s another question. So, when I was running my gym, I had a Facebook person. I didn’t have time to do the Facebook ads. Sometimes I’d get into it, but then I would run out of time. So, I just had someone do it.

In the end, I don’t think they had the right strategy. Maybe for a local business, it wasn’t right. I don’t know.

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How Facebook advertising during the quarantine is actually a big opportunity

[34:01] Kristy: What are your thoughts on Facebook ads for local companies right now?

Alex: I highly recommend it especially right now with everything going on in the world. Facebook ads cost has actually declined recently, and engagement is up because more people are online right now. 

So, it’s a great time to actually start running Facebook ads. I would recommend it for small businesses because it can be your competitive advantage.

It’s a system that is scalable, can automate your lead generation, and actually grow your business without you having to work harder. So, with the right strategy, it can be very profitable. 

Kristy: Yeah. Could you give me an example of a strategy you see working right now? I know a lot of businesses might say they have the same experience. He spent so much money but it didn’t work. 

I definitely know we probably didn’t do it right, but I wasn’t the one doing it so I wouldn’t know.

So, what would you tell a non Facebook ads person, a business owner regarding the strategy they should use?

Alex: Yeah. So, when running Facebook ads, it’s important that you recuperate your ad costs as quickly as possible. So, this is when you see a lot of ads. When you click on an ad, a lot of times they’re asking for your email address with a free giveaway, like a lead magnet.

Then, they’ll quickly upsell you to a small ticket item, maybe like a $7 ebook or a $7 video training.

What that’s going to do is to offset your ad cost so that for every dollar you invest in ads, you’re going to recuperate that dollar or even more right away. 

So, when you have that system dialed in, then you can spend more money. Maybe spend $100, get $100 back and acquire new leads without actually having to lose out on any of your ad costs.

Well, that’s a strategy I would use right now. 

Kristy: Yeah. I love that one. I’m going to use that. I like that a lot because it makes a lot of sense. 

For a trainer, or in the fitness field in general, do you have any suggestions on freebies that work? I’m worried that there are so many ways people could go and then spend two days on it and then it would not work at all.

Alex: Yeah. So, checklists work great. People love checklists. If you have a 10 step checklist to get a desired result, people love that. 

Challenges work really well too. You can start a Facebook group and maybe just do a live five-day challenge. That can take almost no time to create because you’re doing it live.

It’s highly engaging and you can quickly build a Facebook group and build your strategy live as you’re building it. A challenge gets people results, it gets people engaged, and qualifies them as potential clients in the future. 

Kristy: I love the challenge and I think a lot of trainers will love challenges. I personally have done a lot of fitness challenges. 

So, could you walk me through on how someone might do a free five-day finished challenge? In general, your techniques in creating challenges online.

5 Techniques in creating fitness challenge online

#1: Start by promoting it

Alex: Sure. So, you’d start by promoting it. Start your Facebook group saying, a free five-day challenge to get so-and-so results. Then, you’d start advertising that to all your friends, family, the people on your Facebook list. 

Go inside other Facebook groups and tell people about it. Go out networking, or reach out to past clients. Get as many people inside this group as possible. Then, ask them to share it with their friends. Ask them if they know anyone else that would be interested. 

So, you’re getting people inside the group excited for your challenge. You’re getting as many people as possible to know about it.

#2: Schedule it

Alex: Then, maybe you can schedule the challenge for a week out. 

As it starts getting closer to the challenge, you would start asking people’s opinions for what they want to achieve during the challenge, what their challenges are and what their goals are.

And you can work that into your program, into your free five-day challenge to make sure that it’s really valuable for the people who are going to be joining.

#3: Ask questions and build relationships

Alex: Throughout your five day challenge, not only would want to be providing value and entertainment, but you would also want to ask questions and build relationships.

The goal of a Facebook group is to build those relationships. 

#4: Talk about your premium services

Alex: Then, maybe on the third day of your challenge, you can start talking about your premium services and the other results that you want to get for your clients. This will start getting them emotionally invested in working with you in the future. 

#5: You can use the same challenge over and over again

Alex: Then by the fifth day, you can be done with your challenge which you can use over and over again inside your group, and you’ll have a lot of people qualified and interested in working with you in the future. 

Kristy: Oh, that’s awesome.

So, we get to the end of the challenge and we want to let people know that they can sign up for the premium package. Should you message anyone or how do you kind of make that conversion go well?

Alex: Yeah. So, I would definitely be messaging people and connecting people one-on-one to build those relationships that are authentic and meaningful to people inside your group.

Then, it’s really smart to have a sales page for your program or videos that you’re trying to offer online. Get Frequently Asked Questions answered, and have a sales page that’s going to help remove some of their fears and objections they might have. 

Kristy: What kind of values or tips should you include during your five day challenge? I guess I’m thinking for the trainer. They might think, how much time do I have to invest to make this challenge? 

Alex: So, I would focus your challenge to maybe a one to two hour video each day for five days. On top of that, you can schedule a time for Q and A videos if people have questions. 

Then, you can sprinkle in any other sort of guides, templates, checklists, or other content throughout the week. Help them get more results or get them more engaged with your challenge. 

Kristy: Just to help people not feel so intimidated by thinking that they have to create this perfect content, how basic could you imagine the guides to be? 

Don’t get intimidated with creating the perfect content — use these 5 simple online tools

#1: Google documents

Alex: Oh, basic. I mean, anything. I make Google documents that are very informal.

Do not think that they have to be professionally designed guides. Just pull up a Google document, write some words out, maybe a quick checklist. 

People are interested in what you have to offer educational-wise that’s going to help them get results. Professional design and everything else comes after.

So, just focus on how you can provide results as best as possible.

Kristy: Awesome! This has been really helpful. Before we go, since I know you’re an internet guy and I love software too, do you have any software recommendations that you find really working whether it’s a social media poster, editor, or membership website?

What would be your top three to five recommendations for online businesses?

#2: Hootsuite

Alex: Yeah. So, if you are trying to schedule a lot of content and you’re feeling like posting is a lot of work, I would recommend tools like Hootsuite. It is a great social media scheduler to plan out all of your content. 

#3: ClickFunnels

Alex: If you’re trying to create landing pages quickly and capture email addresses, I highly recommend ClickFunnels as a membership site. They are the best for creating landing and sales pages to give out your lead magnets and grow your email list. 

#4: Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign

Alex: I use Mailchimp for my email marketing. I think they are a very reputable company. ActiveCampaign is another good email marketing software as well. 

Those are the main tools I use. I think with those, you can definitely grow a pretty profitable online business. 

Kristy: Yeah. That’s awesome! Do you have any suggestions for membership sites that are pretty low cost? Let’s say they don’t think they’re gonna make a ton of money off of it, but they want to try to throw something together.

#5: Teachable

Alex: Yeah. Teachable is actually a great program. You can do a membership course through that and it’s very affordable. It works well. 

Kristy: Thank you for those tips. That’s awesome! We covered a lot. We covered Facebook groups, Facebook pages, Facebook advertising, how to set it up.

So, it’s been really awesome. If anyone wants to reach out to you, Alex, how can they find you? 

Alex: Yeah. So, I’m on Facebook. They can find me, Alex Storm, or my business page which is Christian Freelance Academy.

Kristy: Your Facebook group has a lot of good videos. I think you did some type of challenge also.

If you guys want to see videos, it’s very informative, he has a lot of graphics, which I think everyone loves, check out the videos on his Facebook group.

If somebody listening wants to reach out to you or find your posts, how can they do that?

Kristy: Thank you so much. It’s been awesome having you today, Alex. 

Alex: Great. Thank you for having me. 

Kristy: Thanks. 

Alex: Bye. 

Kristy: Bye.