The Business Model Panel — Where the Money Actually Comes From

The last panel of the week, and the one everything else rolls up into. Five women with completely different models talked about how their businesses actually make money, and how little of that was planned.

Kate Ahl has run an agency since 2014 and says 80 to 85% of revenue is still services. Her one regret is pivoting into courses and memberships too early, because marketing one-to-one and one-to-many at the same time splits your brain. Andrea Jones went freelancer to agency to selling the agency to educational products and is now creative director at someone else's agency. Claire Venus built nine income streams on purpose, like a cat has nine lives, because the boom and bust of freelance was wrecking her nervous system. Linda Sidhu makes her money through partnerships and affiliate relationships, and runs an invite-only room. Elise Joy Allan sees across 13,000 course creators at LearnWorlds.

On the "courses are dead" question, the panel didn't agree with the premise. Bad courses are dying. Claire lowered her course price this year and had her best sale ever.

On this panel: Claire Venus, Elise Joy Allan, Kate Ahl, Andrea Jones, Linda Sidhu

What we covered:

[4:30] How does your business actually make money, and is that the model you started with?
[5:15] Linda on running everything through partnerships and affiliate relationships, and why The Mixer Mind is invite-only.
[6:00] Claire's nine income streams. She wanted the number for the same reason a cat has nine lives, and it worked on her nervous system after years of freelance boom and bust.
[7:45] Kate on staying agency for 12 years. She pivoted into courses and a membership early and wishes she hadn't, because marketing one-to-one and one-to-many at once muddles both. Team of 18 now, 40 at its peak.
[9:30] Andrea sold her agency partly because managing a virtual team was harder than managing hotel staff, and is now creative director at someone else's.
[11:15] Elise on what she sees across 13,000 course creators: validate one bread-and-butter piece of expertise before you build the system on top of it.
[13:10] "What model should I start with?" Kate on the one-to-three years of throwing spaghetti, and not chasing someone else's model. Andrea's case for services being the easiest thing to market and sell. Linda on the DiSC profile and her TED Talk question. Claire on human design.
[19:50] "1:1 social media work is draining me and I can't stop." Andrea on the vacation and the Christmas Eve when her scheduler went down, and calling herself a freelancer with a team for four years before saying agency. Kate on hiring her first person from a hospital room after her daughter's diagnosis, and on interviewing seven women with seven-figure agencies who had almost no social footprint.
[24:45] "Everything I sell is $12 to $47. How do I go to $100 to $300?" Claire on stepping stones and what the low-ticket buyers need next. Linda on validating before you build, and selling low ticket being as hard as selling high. Elise on doubling the price as an experiment, and why forcing a subscription onto the wrong product loses trust fast. Andrea's alternative: license it to an organization, or make money on partnerships instead of building more.
[31:00] "I've heard courses are dead." Claire runs two live rounds a year and lowered her price this year for her best sale yet. Kate's eight-week inner circle, built from the accelerator, where knowledge is the cherry and community is the product. Linda on writing a purpose statement and checking every decision against it. Elise on buyers who've been burned by weak programs, and bad courses being the ones that are dying.
[39:15] What is an agency, and do you need specific expertise? Kate's definition and the boutique-versus-plug-and-play split. Andrea's law firm analogy.
[42:30] What do you automate and what do you protect? Elise: automate what takes your soul out of you, keep what makes you light up. Claire on falling asleep with her phone in her hand trying to reply to everyone, and the first August she's taken off. Her Elsa's ice castle line.
[46:45] Kate on being the thing limiting her own business. The $10,000 course she was devastated by, while the agency was doing $40,000 to $50,000 a month, and the coach who called her on it. Linda's follow-up on staying in your own lane.
[49:45] Rapid fire on highest-margin offers. Elise on reselling what you've already built. Andrea's one-on-one strategy intensives. Claire on running lean and tracking lifetime value. Linda on the 80/20 she learned in pharmaceutical sales.

Grab the panelist gifts: https://lab.destinicopp.com/closed-door-hub

Keep all five panels permanently, plus searchable transcripts, takeaways for each one, and the live Q4 Money Map session on the 20th. That's the Back Room, $47.