I hosted my first mini workshop by accident. It was 2016 and I was bartending to pay my way through grad school. 

The restaurant I worked at got shut down because of money laundering and ties to the Greek mafia. I literally showed up for a shift and the doors were chained shut. Bad news all around.

I needed a new way to make money, fast. And I was burnt out on mixing drinks till 2 in the morning. So I started brainstorming other ideas.

My little brother was still in high school at the time, and he would ask me questions about college applications & essays all the time. 

I figured other people had similar questions! So I put together a quick workshop on college writing skills.

Here’s the official “marketing email” I sent out to a total of eight people (mostly my brother’s friend’s parents & my mom’s friends). 

I also posted about it on a few online homeschooling forums, hung up flyers at local coffee shops, and emailed a bunch of high school principals to ask them to promote it to their students.

I charged $165 and got 19 sign-ups. I literally didn’t know how to set up an online checkout page at the time, so most people paid me via PayPal. A few people even mailed checks!

But I was over the moon!

I’d made enough to cover 3 months of rent. All with a single little workshop.

Little did I know, that was just the beginning…

After the workshop, I got email after email from parents — asking if they could hire me to tutor their kid, help them with other writing skills, or consult them on the college application process. 

I wasn’t pushing or promoting anything. I didn’t even have a real “service” to offer. But the workshop had created so much trust that they were LOOKING for ways to keep paying me.

Even months later, I was still getting requests on a regular basis! 

To be honest, I thought this was all just blind luck! 

I didn’t realize that I could keep using paid workshops to help people, make money, and bring in consistent clients.

I didn’t even consider myself a business owner at the time!

So I took a long detour. I finished grad school, got a teaching job, started a just-for-fun blog, and even went back to bartending for a bit.

A few years later, I’d pivoted into freelance blogging full time.

And I’d completely forgotten about my accidental workshop success.

I was following all the famous internet marketing gurus and doing everything they told me to:

• hosting free trainings
• creating lead magnets
• writing valuable “how to…” posts
• taking sales calls
• posting in other people’s FB groups
• putting together free email courses (remember those?!)

Here’s me in my car doing a free training at 9pm. Craziness!

I was spending half my work hours doing “free stuff” for my audience.

And as a result…I was up till midnight on a regular basis, just trying to hit deadlines and finish projects for my paying clients.

Then I got an unexpected bill in the mail. I thought my insurance would cover a health treatment. And it didn’t. So I owed over $5,000 that I didn’t have at the time.

Worst of all, I didn’t have time to take on another client.

My calendar was already more than maxed out and I was working most evenings and weekends just to stay afloat. 

By some miracle, I remembered the College Writing Bootcamp that I hosted back in 2016.  

And I decided to create another paid workshop. This time, for my new audience of business owners.

The next day, I sent an email to my 500-subscriber list and published another Facebook post.

The next morning, I got up at 5am to build my slides. 

They weren’t cute or fancy, but they were helpful!

Then, I sent out a link to all my workshop buyers, opened up my Zoom room, and spent 60 minutes talking about one of my favorite things: writing one-of-a-kind welcome emails for your list.

It was so fun!  

And the results blew my mind. 

Within 48 hours, I’d… 

• launched a brand new workshop
• created a full training
• sold 27 tickets (at $197)
• paid off my medical bill
• and connected with 27 potential clients

And it wasn’t stressful or overwhelming. It was fun!

I shouldn’t have been surprised about what happened next.

But just like after my first College Writing workshop, the response blew my mind!

Even though I hadn’t pitched or promoted my services during the workshop…

People from the workshop were emailing me and asking to hire me. 

The best part?

I didn't have to deal with sales calls, proposals, or portfolios. I didn’t have to convince them or pitch them. They already trusted me…and just wanted to get started! 

This was when I finally “got hooked” on workshops.

I quit doing all the other marketing things.

No more free trainings.

No more lead magnets.

No more huge “how to…” posts.

No more sales calls.

No more group spamming.

No more free email courses. 

I started hosting a live workshop almost every month. Usually I’d pick a topic based on questions I was getting from real-life clients. Sometimes I’d post a poll!

My business changed overnight.

I went from spending 20 hours a week on marketing to spending less than 2 hours a week on marketing. (All I had to do was talk about my upcoming workshop a few times!)

I stopped missing client deadlines & working till midnight.

I didn’t have to take nerve-wracking sales calls anymore.

I was able to raise my rates — because my workshops created so much trust, buy-in, and authority. People were signing up for $3k/month retainers without batting an eye.

I was finally able to travel with my husband without lugging my computer & a bunch of client projects along.

And I got to host fun workshops all the time!

In fact, I’d probably still be teaching copywriting workshops & writing for clients if I hadn’t connected with my now-business partner Justin in 2020… 

Let me catch you up on his side of the story.

In his previous company, he spent years teaching and facilitating 50+ in-person workshops. The kind where you'd rent a fancy studio, spend $20k on A/V equipment, and attendees would fly in from all over the world.

But he walked away from that company in 2019, to move back to Canada and spend more time with family. (He and his wife Michelle have two kiddos, and all their grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. are in the Toronto area.)

He knew it was the right decision. Even though it meant starting over and building a business from scratch. 

And after years of running high-production, high-intensity, high-overhead workshops…he was ready for something different.

He still loved workshops.

But he wanted more simplicity, more flexibility, and more freedom.

So he took his background in video production, sales, and speaking…and wrapped it into a super-streamlined 60-minute training.

It was called Click Go Live, and it was a $37 workshop that helped business owners get more clients with simple live videos.

He didn’t have an online audience at the time.

So he sold the first 50 tickets by doing a handful of casual interviews on friends’ podcasts, Facebook groups, and YouTube channels.

Then, he took that cash and put it towards ads.

Seven months later, he’d sold 2900 tickets. 

In case you don't have a calculator handy...

Just like me, though, he found that the real magic happened AFTER the workshop.

Thanks to a couple simple upsells, add-ons, and back-end invitations, he earned over $500k in just 7 months.

From one workshop.

He actually launched two other workshops (in different verticals) in the same timeframe and saw similar results.

He still didn’t have a big email list, a complicated sales funnel, or a fancy high-ticket program.

But it didn’t matter. 

People were buying his workshops, connecting with his work, and 100% ready to spend $2k+ on a simple consulting call or video audit.

Neither of us could escape the evidence…

Mini Workshops create sales, connections, and client relationships faster than anything we’ve ever done.

And that’s what we bonded over in 2020!

We’d met once before — at a random mastermind event in Newport Beach, California, in 2019.

And we reconnected in 2020 when Justin offered to help me figure out my Kajabi account. (‘Cause I have less than zero tech skills.)

That’s when we realized that we were doing almost the exact same thing with workshops.

Even though we had different niches and different backgrounds… 

We were both using simple paid workshops to make money, avoid the “free content hamster wheel,” and build an audience of buyers.

We’d also both been fielding questions about workshops for MONTHS.

So we decided to give in and create a workshop about workshops. ;)

That’s how Mini Workshop Magic was born.

We wanted to give people a simple roadmap for exactly how we’ve used workshops to make money, get clients, and build really sustainable businesses. 

We didn’t have huge plans for it at the time. Honestly, we just wanted to show people that you don’t have to spend 10+ hours a week on free content or sales calls!

You can create a quick 60-minute training…charge anywhere from $5 to $200 for it…and use that single training to get clients and build a super engaged list. 

So anyway, Mini Workshop Magic started as a “little side project,” but it’s become so much more. 

Turns out we’re not the only ones that want to get off the “free content hamster wheel” and find a simpler way to help people & make money!

Since releasing the first version of Mini Workshop Magic in 2020… 

We’ve sold 11,500 workshop tickets together.

We’ve sold out memberships & masterminds through our workshops.

We’ve built a list of engaged buyers that love what we do.

We’ve grown a multi-million dollar business without ever spending more than 2 hours a week on “free content.” 

But those aren’t the stats that matter. (We’re really just sharing them here so you can see the real power of a paid workshop.)

What really matters is that…

We’ve helped THOUSANDS of business owners launch workshops that give them more income & more freedom. 

We’ve helped a bunch of really awesome workshop creators — dog trainers in South Africa, and mindfulness teachers in Germany, bakers in Austria, and digital marketers in Peru.

We’ve helped busy business owners spend less time on marketing and selling — and more time doing the stuff they actually love (or being totally offline).

And we’d love to help you!