It was about six months into my tour in Iraq.
I was in charge of a supply unit. And, over there, supplies were like gold. So, we had people, from all over Iraq, that’d show up and all but beg us for one thing or another. We did our best to help out…
But, sometimes, we had to say no.
Anyway, this guy showed up and wanted this generator we had. A buddy of mine and I gave him the standard response that we’d need to check with our “Chief” — the officer in charge of the warehouse.
Yada, yada, yada.
And, that’s when he did it.
He reached into pocket and pulled out this massive wad of cash — and offered us $1,000 a piece to just give him the generator right then and there — no questions asked. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t seriously consider it.
That was a lot of cash for me at the time.
We both kinda looked at each other like “WTF!”
Ultimately, though, we told him we’d have to think about it. He kept chatting with us — obviously to butter us up — and turns out this guy worked for the CIA (at least, that’s what he said. He could’ve been feeding us BS for all I know).
And he was one of their “money” guys.
They were these CIA spooks whose whole job was to go into the local area and buy items that their unit needed. And, supposedly, back at his base, they had this room that was just stacked floor to ceiling with cash.
And they’d just go in and “requisition” the cash…
Like they were checking out a pencil or something.
And go buy what they needed.
It was a pretty wild story. But, had that fat wad to back it up. Of course, we were curious… so we started asking him about the CIA and his training… everything. Anyway, he talked a lot about the training they went through.
It stuck out to me because I’d always been interested in education…
And learning.
Even way back in my college days, I majored in Secondary Education.
So, the method he described, used by the CIA, intrigued me. The complete opposite of the shallow, koombaya, cater 100% to the student approach that so many online course “gurus” teach today.
Years later, when I started training deploying troops, I incorporated what he described (as much as I could) into how I taught classes and trained.
Even today, I use it in my online courses.
To create a feeling of euphoria in students.
Like: “Holy shyte! I’m learning a ton from this” but you’re strategically injecting your principles and ideas — the ones that’ll actually help them succeed — into their brain. Sort of like getting your kids to eat broccoli by smothering them in cheese.
And doing it in a repeatable way.
So, course after course, your students love what they’re getting and turn into raving fans who can’t help tell others about you.
While also actually getting results.
It’s like a double-whammy of positivity.
And you can end up overrun with positive reviews.
And word-of-mouth.
That can make the marketing of your course almost effortless.
It’s a lot easier to sell a course when you can drop 50 positive reviews on the sales page and let the results speak for themselves. Or, people come to you already sold on your course by another student of yours.
It doesn’t happen by accident.
And it has to do with what I’ve said about creating “depth” in your course. In fact, I daresay, that once you see it… you’ll never evaluate another course the same again. And most… you’ll feel like something is missing.
Because most courses simply don’t have any depth to them.
It’s all process, process, process…
With very little substance.
In any case, I cover this method I came across from that alleged CIA agent in the course outline lesson in my Sane Course Creation course — which is available on Skillshare for the time being.
Because of that, you can get it essentially free.
And use it to add a simple revenue stream to your business.
In fact, I believe freelancers are some of the best positioned business people to garner huge benefits from an online course. You already know your topic inside and out. You already have authority in the marketplace.
You’ve likely already have a website.
Social media.
Everything is in place. You just need a course, a simple delivery system and a sales page — all of which I teach how to do in the course. And boom! You’ve added a highly-leveraged revenue stream with very little effort on your part.
Anyway, I won’t twist your arm (like a CIA stooge might).
This will really only work for those who are smart enough to already see the value behind adding such a simple and highly-leveraged stream of revenue to their business. But, like I said, you can get the course essentially free.
That’s because as a Skillshare teacher…
I can offer you an exclusive 1-month free trial of the site (the normal trial is just 7 days). With that, you get 100% unfettered access to every course on the site (30,000+). Every lesson, every PDF, every download.
Everything.
And then, if you cancel before the month is up, you never pay a penny. So, essentially free. A few hoops to jump through, but might be worth it to you. Especially since I’ll be taking it down at the end of July…
And selling it for around $150 on my website.
If you’re not a CIA money-man and want to save yourself that cash, then this is a great opportunity. Anyway, up to you. The link to get the 1-month trial, if you’re interested, is here: https://myjohn.us/sane
Later,
John
P.S. Patrons… you already have access to this course (AND all my past courses) here: https://myjohn.us/patreon
