Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
The Level Up Creators podcast is for digital creators ready to take their business to the next level. You'll learn valuable strategies and hear engaging stories from industry pros and digital creators who have walked the path of scaling up.
Whether you're tired of tap dancing for the algorithm or seeking to build real wealth - without the burnout - this podcast offers proven methods and practical advice to help you elevate your business, on your terms. Join us!
Amanda Northcutt (00:00)
Hello, you're listening to the Level Up Creators podcast, Amanda Northcutt here, founder and CEO. We help creators and digital thought leaders like you turn your knowledge and experience into rock solid recurring revenue. And we are so glad you're here. Welcome. Our distinguished guest today for the second time is Amanda Goetz. Amanda is a two times founder, four times CMO, brand builder and content creator on marketing, personal and professional growth, inspiring over 150,000 people.
every week through her social insights and weekly newsletter, Life's a Game. Her debut book will publish in the fall of 2025. I am so excited for that. We're recording this in, what is it, December of 2024, and we have been looking forward to this launch date. We'll do an episode three to commemorate your book launch.
Amanda Goetz (00:46)
Love that. It's been a lot of multi-year projects, so I'll be excited for that.
Amanda Northcutt (00:47)
Yeah.
my gosh, me too. And y'all, if you've been following either of us on LinkedIn or Twitter, you know that Amanda and I and the entire Level Up team are working on a major collaboration together to take Amanda from about 10K in MRR, that is monthly recurring revenue, to 50K MRR without gaming the system by the end of this year. So pretty much now. So we're going to peel back the curtain on what this process has been like for Amanda and how her business has changed as a result. So without further ado, welcome, Amanda.
Amanda Goetz (01:22)
Thank you for having me. I love that we get to turn on the camera for the like 30th time, you know, the past six months. So this is just like a normal, for those that haven't been following along, this is just a normal Tuesday for us.
Amanda Northcutt (01:36)
Yeah, and it's been so fun to get to know you and your business and your family. This has been such an amazing collaboration that I'm sure you and I will remember for many years to come. And we hope that it has been so impactful for you and inspiring to you that this is something that can be done when you have the right strategy and team in place and the determination that you, Amanda, most certainly have. And I know that so many
Amanda Goetz (01:44)
Gah!
Amanda Northcutt (02:05)
create ourself.
Amanda Goetz (02:06)
Yeah, it's such, it's, I just want to say like, it has been truly incredible. The level of care, not only for my business, but for me and like the amount of work we have done in six months is kind of mind blowing. And I know that you do this for all the, you know, this is your methodology. This is what you take people through. And it's been wonderful to feel like.
seen and validated that my my knowledge and my expertise should be can be monetized. And that you guys care about me as the human behind the business. And I just think that that's a fairly rare thing, which is sad, but like, it really meant a lot.
Amanda Northcutt (02:54)
Thank you for saying that, I appreciate it. And we do actually care a lot about you and our other clients and we're very selective about who we work with in the consulting firm and because it is such a deep collaboration and we are working together on another level, like a very different level than probably most people have worked with any sort of outside party. So let's get into it a little bit more. We're gonna try and backtrack a little bit here and kick off with if you can share sort of about your business and the challenges you faced before.
hiring level up creators. So we're gonna back up to, you know, Q1, Q2 of 2024.
Amanda Goetz (03:31)
Yeah. So for those that don't know my background, I've been in marketing for two decades. I've built two companies and I left a nine to five. It was a fairly toxic work environment. And it was one of those things that I decided to leave with really no idea of what was next. And I know how to build brands. I know how to build kind of community and social following. So I literally quit on like
a Monday and I was like, okay, we're gonna figure this out. And I'm gonna, I need to get to like 10 K MRR to keep the lights on to feed my kids. And I quit in September of 2023. And by like December, I was doing about 10 K MRR. And that was through the first thing I launched was my newsletter and I was doing like random sponsorships here and there.
And then the second thing I launched was my office hours community. was like, listen, I'm doing this thing. Come along with me. And then the third thing I launched was one, my first course, was life's a game masterclass, which is all about productivity and goal setting and all the things that people know me for as a single mom of three. And then it was around like Q1, Q2 that I'm like, all right, I'm spending all of this time now.
creating and managing the community. And I hit what I keep calling like my scaling ceiling. Like there's only one of me and I didn't want to hire people that I knew that if I had a down month, like if I couldn't pay them. And so there was a lot of stress as a solopreneur of how to expand your team when you're in the early days. And then we met. You and I met at what we had kind of been.
following each other and knowing I knew of you. And then we met in person at the kit conference. And it was really wonderful just to hear your consulting brain put on creator revenue and the methodology and the very like to get a glimpse inside your brain this past six months has been like amazing just to see how it's been.
Okay, here are the 30 things we need to do under this project. And this is, this is why they all connect into this thing. And this connects to your larger user journey. So the reason I was super excited to go all in with you guys is because I was spending all of my time creating and I couldn't, it's like I was building a boat.
and adding people to the boat, but the boat had a ton of leaks and I had no time because I was in the front telling everybody on your right, go look over here and on your left, look over here. Don't worry about those holes. Like we'll fix them later. And it was really, really stressful because I felt stretched really thin to be able to like zoom out. I think once you're in your business, it's so hard to zoom out and be like that thing you launched.
You launched it and it was like 60 % good, but there are 30 other things you could do to it to get more out of it. But then you have to like go back. I think we've talked about this. lot of people struggle with the, well, I launched it. Let me just go launch a new thing instead of going back and like actually fixing the first thing you did. So there was just so much about.
where I was in my business that I'm like, I don't know if I have the ability to zoom out. And I was just gonna be on that like launch and move cycle until I met you.
Amanda Northcutt (07:30)
Hmm. So what I'm hearing from you was you, mean, one, that's really impressive that from September to December, you'd got from zero to 10 K you quit your job in September. mean, wow, that's speak volumes about your ability to produce and put out work with three kids by yourself. I mean, that is just extraordinary. So I want to make sure that that is emphasized and sounds like you're very nervous about.
you know, potentially hiring someone to build along with you on your team. Because like you said, if you have a down month, you gotta let that person go. That's a really messy thing. It's a very hard thing to do. It's very personal. You know, I have both built and led teams over the last 20 years, and that is not a situation you want to put yourself in as the true, you know, creator CEO of your business. So in addition to that, I mean, obviously you're very good at audience building. You're a very good marketer. But in terms of
building the broader business, the entire product ladder, and then how it all becomes interconnected and leveraging marketing automation, getting out of that launch, launch, launch cycle. Is that all kind of correct in terms of where you found yourself?
Amanda Goetz (08:39)
Yeah, for sure. And it was one of those things where I am a brand builder. know how I know audience building. know the top of the funnel, how to get eyeballs. And then there's all of this stuff that as a CMO, I had tons of teams to also help with. So there was, there was just so much that I needed. I needed a team. needed somebody to like come in and it's just.
I always joke, it's like, I needed to level up my business because I'm one person and then I found Jay.
Amanda Northcutt (09:18)
Yeah, and you also don't need the level of help that we have provided for you over the last six months ongoing in your business. I it takes like the full team, the full breadth of our team, the full breadth of our offerings to get from where you were to where you are now and where we're still going to finish out the year here. But that's not something that you need forever in your business. This is what we call an episodic need, going one. And so it doesn't even necessarily make sense to
hire a team when the burden reduces significantly. Once you get, you set the intention, the vision, the mission, the values, the goals, you set the strategy, the product ladder, you connect everything with marketing automation. We redid your brand, we rebuilt your website, connected all the pieces, we built your bow tie funnel and every little step in between. But once that's done, it's pretty freaking great. You you're playing a game of conversion rate optimization at that point in your business.
So also, another piece of what we built for you is an auto-populating metrics dashboard. And so you have full visibility into tofu, mofu, bofu, top of the funnel, middle of the funnel, bottom of the funnel, at any point in time, and you're able to successfully diagnose where the holes are in the boat without very much effort. And so that's kind of what you do ongoing. And yeah, we would anticipate that you would continue to products, but not at a very quick
clip, maybe every six months or something like that, but not this vicious launch cycle that burns creators out faster than just about anything else.
Amanda Goetz (10:53)
Yeah. And there's another point that I want to touch on, which is when you start a business, you're in growth mode. And so you are spending money to make money. And I think for many solopreneurs and creators, understanding when to switch into profit mode and to really refine your P &L.
And that's the thing that helped like working with you and talking about the business. And I know you and I have talked a lot about like from like going from just like creator mode to CEO mode. And I spent a lot more time over the last six months really saying, okay, we get this business to 50 K MRR. What's my net profit? And I love the idea of this episodic working with.
you know, level up as an episodic moment, you take your company to this next level, and then you can maintain it and start to refine the expenses so that you're actually building a life from all this work that you're doing. Because many times what I see people doing is, okay, let's say that they get to 20K MRR, but they have
They're paying a growth agency and then they're spending another, you know, two to 4K in ads. And then they have a designer and then they have somebody looking at something else. And then maybe they have an EA helping them. And now all of a sudden that chips away and they're taking home 5K a month. And they're like, well, what the heck? I'm making 20K a month. I should be feeling pretty good.
So I think that that's the other piece of this that I'm like, I think for many creators looking at being a creator as a business is a different level of thinking. I don't need to hit a million followers to take home three to 400 K a year. If I'm really smart about the metrics.
Amanda Northcutt (13:12)
That's exactly right. I think that's such an important point. And when you get out of launch mode and you get into recurring revenue mode, you have these recurring revenue products and services, the opportunity to continue to drip out and deliver value to your ideal customer profile month after month and year after year. And at different levels too. We're not talking about just like some $19 membership. We're talking about a strategic product ladder that delivers or that offers opportunities for your recurring revenue.
to pay you at different levels and receive different levels of value and access to you over time. And then they can kind of move between levels in that product ladder so that you are maximizing LTV or customer lifetime value. And this is all part of the MRR method. That is level ups methodology. And Amanda was the first to get the full breadth of the MRR method. We deliver chunks of that to our other consulting clients, but it was really fun to really go like full tilt on.
delivering our methodology and further refining it. So that was really cool. But I'm curious to know, Amanda, mean, you obviously have a significant business background. been a business leader for a long time. Did you ever think about recurring revenue as it pertains to your career or business? when, at what point did you start thinking about recurring revenue rather?
Amanda Goetz (14:33)
So I ran a DTC company, my last startup was a DTC business. So we always talked about subscriptions and how do we increase LTV of existing buyers, shoppers. When you become the product, there is a weird-
shift that happens in your thinking that it's sometimes really hard to apply business thinking to it because there's so much emotion wrapped in it. And so for me,
For example, when you're starting out, you feel this need to earn people's trust and you almost feel so thankful and grateful that they're spending a dollar with you and you're like, well, I could just give discounts or I I feel so grateful that they're doing this. And there was,
Like even with brand sponsorships, which I know and maybe we'll touch on this, but you know, someone wanting to pay to be in my newsletter, I was like, okay, yeah, like I'm just so grateful that you're like doing this. And I do think that there is, and I see this more as I coach with gender, like gender specific, I think women feel like, you're taking a bet on me versus, no, you are, you get the chance to work with me.
And it's this repositioning in my own brain of something that when you've been in corporate for so long and you've been with big brand names and brand names give you this credibility, all of a sudden, I feel like I've got to prove myself with it. Then on the other side of the coin, you're like, but I have 20 years of experience that I'm sharing with people.
And so the reframe I've really had to make when I led into recurring revenue was recurring value. I have so much value that I am giving out for free recurring and then within my community recurring. And someone gets the chance to, to learn from my 20 years of experience. So I think that that was the shift I had to make personal.
Amanda Northcutt (17:11)
that's a really good point about mindset. And I love that you pointed that out about women in particular. That is something that we should not overlook. And you're absolutely right. That doesn't happen with all of our female clients, but it does happen with some for sure. with love. mean, part of the ethos and the mission of Level Up creators is to help women and people in traditionally marginalized groups really live into their
total incomplete badassery, like really, I mean, just owning it and giving that vibe out into the world and not in a pretentious way, in a confident way, in a way that is reflective of that person's experience and the recurring value they have to offer to the world.
Amanda Goetz (18:00)
Well, I also think that when you've been in corporate for so long and you've been getting a paycheck, there's a weird internal shift that has to happen about monetizing your expertise. And I'm seeing it with a few people that I'm coaching, which is just like the amount of experience they have. And there's this shift of like, I'm just starting out as a creator. And it's like,
No, no, no, no, no. You may be starting out as a creator, but you are a 20 plus year veteran in this industry with your knowledge, your expertise. So we're not charging like first tier rates here on some of these things that you're going above and beyond. Like we've got to price you where you are at your value in the market, not where you are in your creator journey. And I think that that also
was a shift for me where like, know we worked on my pricing a lot where I was like, ooh, like I don't know if I can raise my prices. And then we did and I didn't lose anyone. And I gained, you know, 40 more people into office hours since. And it's like, okay, when you charge for your value, no one bats an eye.
Amanda Northcutt (19:20)
Yes, value-based pricing is so important. And also, I think it's important for people to hear and understand that we have not gotten you to 5X MRR and on the road to hopefully much more than that by selling things that cost $99 or $19. And so high ticket services and group programs and some one-on-one, depending on kind of like your lifestyle requirements.
are really, really key. you can't just sell courses, you can't sell just a low ticket membership to really get to this level where you are beginning to amass wealth and buy a house and have opportunities that perhaps were not available to you before. And also I want to point out that having a social media following is an incredible accelerant for businesses in the 2020s. I mean, man, is that helpful, right?
Amanda Goetz (20:20)
Yes.
Amanda Northcutt (20:20)
And also businesses have been running for millennia without social media. This is new. And so, you know, if you are listening to this and you're like, I'm not Amanda Goetz. I don't have 150,000 people listening to me. Do you have 10 or a hundred? Who is in your professional network right now? Take a step back. And as you are working to build your funnels and your ability to drive top of funnel through social media,
What do we have right now? Where can we start right now with higher ticket offers so that you can get five to eight clients to get you to 50K a month? So I want to be clear that tomorrow an old phrase, there's a lot of ways to skin the cat and there's not, you know, one right rate to do this. is, this is a very individualized process and it's based on your individual knowledge, expertise, value set, personal goals, both from a financial and lifestyle architecture perspective. And so we're not.
putting forward this one size fits all copy and paste situation, which is part of what makes us unique. I mean, I don't know if there is another full stack strategic and implementation team that exclusively serves the creator economy. But Amanda, I you do have options, right? So when you were kind of considering, let's go back to the first half of this year again, you have other options, right? In terms of who you're listening to, who you're being coached by, you could have...
you're such a executive. You could have hired a team of consultants and put together a stack of people to get done what you needed to get done. So why us?
Amanda Goetz (22:02)
Well, the simplest answer is I care more about the people I work with. That's just the baseline, people first, profit second. And meeting you, meeting Bruno, Natalie, it's just hardworking people that care deeply. And so that was like, And the sad thing is, and I know I said this earlier, is that is a differentiator.
the people you have on your team is a differentiator. Then the second piece is the sheer amount of work that has been done on my business. Like I, I wish we could like screen share show the notion board, but like maybe we can put some like, mean, we can, I'm sure we'll share it in some ways on online, so make sure you're following both of us. but the amount of work and attention to
detail and feeling like I was part of your team and not just a client was like a difference that, I've worked with tons of agencies and I've gotten burned by a ton of agencies. And for those that are starting out there, I mean, when you start going down the creator journey, your DMS are going to explode with people promising you.
more leads, more volume, they're going to go get you sponsors, they're going to do this. And my biggest advice is you have to learn how to fish yourself and not just throw money at fishermen because, and that was the difference for working with you. I felt like I knew why you were approaching
Amanda Northcutt (23:48)
Hmm.
Amanda Goetz (23:58)
something or an automation or change in tech. And I'd get a loom video walking me through a change or walking me through something. So I feel like I'm walking away from this experience capable of fishing. Whereas many other agencies are like, don't worry, you don't have to fish. We're going to go do this for you behind smoke and mirrors. And we promise that things are going to happen.
Amanda Northcutt (24:26)
you
Amanda Goetz (24:29)
eight times out of 10 in my experience, they may go catch like some tiny fish for you, but it's not what they sold you on. I was trying to make like a sushi. I don't know fish that well. I was like, they want to promise you a barracuda and they brought it, but I was like, I can't go. I'm gonna stop there.
Amanda Northcutt (24:41)
No
Amazing. I feel like we should have some fish swimming in the background in our post-production. my gosh, that's so funny. I lost my train of thought. Okay, so you could have put this together on your own, but what I'm hearing is that you felt that this was going to be a different vibe and that this was, mean, transparency is one of our core values. And like, I know and you know,
Amanda Goetz (25:02)
Ha
Amanda Northcutt (25:18)
you do not need this level of help for a long time. You need it for about six, seven, eight months. And the way that other agencies and consulting firms keep you on the leash and keep you forever is by the whole smoke and mirrors process. You don't know what's going on, what's working, what's not working, what work they're putting in, what work is going And so they're irreplaceable.
Amanda Goetz (25:44)
It's like a great therapist is like, works with you and then says, Okay, you're good. Like you got some tools like call me if you need me. Like, and you guys are like that to me, you taught me how to look at my business in a different way how to like rebuild the foundation of my business in a different way.
and so when I got into the weeds of how much I was going to learn from you guys, that's the difference when somebody is looking at an agency that they should be considering. Like, will I learn something or just get something? And if you're just going to get something and you don't understand the process and they're not taking time to educate you, you're not setting yourself up for long-term success.
When I became a CMO, had at that point, for the most part, worked in almost every single function or at least been close enough so that when I was a CMO, if I had to hire somebody for SEO or email marketing or creative, I had enough knowledge to be dangerous and know what's going on and if something's going to go off.
track. And the same thing is true for a creator business working with an agency, you should feel like you're walking away with enough knowledge in a lot of different areas. Or if you're just hiring a growth agency, you should at least know how to look at your campaigns, how to understand, like, where the pixels placed. Do you understand that? Like, there's so many things that you like, do know the segmentation and targeting have they?
kept it open to global or are they keeping it just the United States? Men versus what? You should be able to know all these things. And if you've never done it before and you hire somebody to do it for you and you don't ask questions and you don't take a learning growth mindset and they're not receptive to it, you're glued and handcuffed to those agencies.
Amanda Northcutt (27:58)
that's a good litmus test to ask that when you're interviewing someone. I mean, I can't help myself, but like teach and coach, like I was a pretty elite athlete and I've always been a better coach than player. And I feel like when agencies, firms, whoever, whatever, are not willing to educate and equip and empower you in order for you to be successful long after they're gone, not only are they doing you a disservice, but
you're really selling yourself short by partnering with them, especially if you don't believe that you are capable of learning these things that Amanda and I are talking about. One, you absolutely are. If you have the cognitive ability to listen to or watch and internalize this discussion, you can learn all of these things. And we will teach you in a way that actually makes sense because we're bringing 10 years of experience from membership businesses, what the creator economy was before it was called that. And then...
10 years in Silicon Valley, and that's just my experience. And then I've got a team of about a dozen people who have at least a decade of experience each in their area of expertise. And we're all coming together with this mindset that you are capable, you are worthy, and we are here to support that and bring your vision to fruition. And not just by telling you what to do, but actually partnering with you and doing as much as we can for you.
Amanda Goetz (29:23)
Yeah, amazing.
Amanda Northcutt (29:26)
So from all the work that we've done together, going all the way back to June, July, what do you feel like has been most important and impactful or maybe surprising?
Amanda Goetz (29:40)
most important or impactful to the business, revenue-wise or to me?
Amanda Northcutt (29:47)
You can interpret that however you want. Yeah, could be, or both or either.
Amanda Goetz (29:52)
well, I'll go through these. So most impactful, important to the business was honestly the, the foundational work. Like I gave you a little curve ball when I was like, I'm not sure. Like if I am, I've got the right thing. And so rather than pouring gasoline onto an existing funnel, we kind of like had this like record scratch moment where we're like, let's look at this.
from a whole new lens. And that's where that work got me to where I am now talking about a portfolio career for multi-hyphenates, people who are juggling work and life because in portfolio career has really started to land for my segment, but I wouldn't have gotten there had it not been for that ICP work in the like, the like.
three hour calls that you do in the beginning where it's like you're lifting up every rock and understanding what makes you tick. Those are really, really impactful to the like long-term of my business because we could have just jumped in and been like, okay, people come to you for productivity because you're a mom of three and you're juggling all these things. Okay, productivity, let's go. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And then we realized that
my sweet spot is like, no, I'm actually a marketer and a brand builder and this. So what is it? What do we do here? So that was really impactful. And then personally impactful, like truly was just like getting to know you and work with you. Like that truly just feels like an honor because your brain and how you see things and how hard you work and how much you care.
And also just like, feel like you and I are gonna be buddies now, like forever. And even just like getting to know your husband and your son, like that was just impactful. And I care deeply about working with people who I genuinely like want. Like I call it the barbecue test. Like if you're working with people that you wouldn't want at a barbecue at your house, then like, why are you spending that much time with people?
Amanda Northcutt (31:56)
Yeah
Amanda Goetz (32:16)
That's just my own personal litmus test. So you guys are welcome to the barbecue anytime. And then what was the last one you said? So Impactful. And then what was the third one?
Amanda Northcutt (32:27)
or surprising.
Amanda Goetz (32:30)
surprising.
Amanda Northcutt (32:35)
And thank you. Those were all very nice things that you said. Thank you very much. The feeling is very much mutual.
Amanda Goetz (32:41)
I'm surprising. think...
Honestly, it's so funny because I do this with people that I work with, but it's always like when the card is or the mirror is turned back on you, but the amount of work we were able to get done because it was clear and accountable with milestones and the most intense, beautiful project management.
I've ever seen and I know you guys are even doubling down with project managers, but I knew, okay, we are in phase one, week one. These are the three things I need to be working on. Great. Boom. Go. There was never blurriness. So when I, did this today, cause I was preparing for our webinar that we're doing live. And I looked at the notion board just to see the amount of things we did.
And it's just a testament to focus, clear direction, and a great team that you can get a lot of stuff done in six months.
Amanda Northcutt (33:51)
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. I'm very, I mean, I want to like pass that compliment onto my team who are just, my gosh, dream team, absolute dream team. And I feel so privileged to have them and no one else can have them. They're the level up team and that's that.
Amanda Goetz (34:05)
Yeah.
They're amazing. Like Bruno, I swear Bruno has like a team of engineers in his home. There's no way that man produces that much, but like, it's amazing.
Amanda Northcutt (34:16)
You
You would think that it is unreal, but it is Bruno. It is Bruno. It is the phenomenon that is Bruno. That man is a production machine and it is very, very, very impressive. And I'm very grateful, Bruno, to you to have you on our team. But thank you for saying that.
Amanda Goetz (34:40)
I feel great for Bruno touched my company. he, for those that don't know, like if you go to [AmandaGoetz.com](http://amandagoetz.com/), every single part of that website, Bruno did. So.
Amanda Northcutt (34:49)
Yep, that is Mr. Bruno. Okay, let's talk about how your kind of like day to day has changed. I mean, we have built this infrastructure. I know we're kind of like starting to take the deep breath. Almost everything is put in place. How does that feel? How does that sitting with you? How has your life changed? How do you anticipate your life changing now that this infrastructure has been laid?
Amanda Goetz (35:18)
Yeah, it's, my gosh, my brain is going in like eight different directions. I mean, I know you mentioned it like kind of in passing, but like this has given me the ability to buy a house, which I've never done before because I have a clear path to how much I'm making and it's recurring and it's stable. So that's like a huge life change. Like I literally.
Amanda Northcutt (35:45)
Yeah.
Amanda Goetz (35:46)
get to give my kids a house, which has never happened before. I'm in a rental still. And so I'm moving in two months, which is exciting. But I think on the day to day, we've set up like even just the move to Mighty Networks and how clean of a transition that was. And shout out to their team of making my.
Amanda Northcutt (36:09)
Yeah, absolutely.
Amanda Goetz (36:12)
community so much more automated and self-serve in that like, like I was doing everything manually, meaning new member joins. Okay. I add them to this Gmail calendar invite, this Gmail calendar invite. And yes, I had email automation set up, but there's a lot in community management that is so manual.
A lot of that is off of my plate. And so I get to like think again instead of do because when you're in the do phase all the time, it is so hard to think. And I wrote a book in the past year and have a couple of other like projects that I wanna work on. These six months,
Amanda Northcutt (36:51)
Yes.
Amanda Goetz (37:10)
of really intense focus on my MRR creator business allows me to now shift into thinking mode again. And I'm a huge proponent of knowing what season you're in. The six months prior to working with you, I was in writing the book mode. My manuscript was due August 1st. So I love this ebb and flow of life, but now I'm moving back into, have some really cool projects I want to
on and now okay my newsletter takes me about four hours a month the community takes me about four to six hours a week if so okay all in I'm spending about 10 hours a week on my creator business
Amanda Northcutt (38:01)
That's insane for the recurring revenue setup that you have now. my gosh. I didn't even realize that. That's amazing.
Amanda Goetz (38:07)
Yeah. So yeah. And I mean, granted, there are certain weeks, like I'll get clients, like I still get fractional CMO work or brand strategy work, or I'll have to do an all day workshop for somebody. it allows me to have the bandwidth to do that. And those are the months that spike me up, you know, and I can pull that lever or deflect it.
Amanda Northcutt (38:19)
Mm-hmm.
Amanda Goetz (38:35)
So I know, okay, February is gonna be an intense month. We're moving. There's a lot of things happening. So I'm not gonna take on as much. And I don't have to because I know what my like kind of stability and my threshold is. So it's incredible. Cause I'm pumped about what I can build again. Cause you can't build when you're just in execution mode. Yeah.
Amanda Northcutt (38:58)
in it. Yeah, when you're constantly 24 7 365 working in your business instead of on your business. But now you've got this amazing infrastructure works like clockwork, the systems and standard operating procedures to make sure that everything is up to snuff working properly. I mean, we're talking about additional checks and balances this morning, actually.
I'm making sure that things are continuing to click along and all of the automated pieces of your business that are saving you tons of time continue to work and serve you well. And yeah, mean, Level Up Creator School is also on Mighty Network. So major shout out to Gina and team there for the amazing product that they have built and are continuing to add amazing features to. So having the right technology is hella important for any business, but especially a creator, know, solopreneur business, it's imperative.
that you have the right technology and that you are empowered and equipped to use it yourself. And now, Amanda, mean, you've shared some of the things. Hi, Penny. You've shared some of the things. For those of you listening, Amanda has this adorable tiny puppy dog on camera. my gosh, I want to snuggle that puppy. But you have shared a few of the things that you have sort of planned out in your product ladder in the future.
One, gonna be freaking amazing. I won't like drop any hints or anything, but this is really very much just the beginning for you. And I hope that the infrastructure that we have built is gonna enable you to not just take your business to 50K MRR, but the next step is $83,333 a month to get you to a million dollar run rate. And you have the opportunity to build a $5 million run rate business that runs at a...
really high profit margin. And so, you know, I foresee the cycle of generational wealth beginning for you. And I'm so excited for what that means for you and for your children. And I mean, this house that you've bought and you're kind of setting up this multi-generational legacy. And so, you know, your grandchildren, your great grandchildren will look back on this and be like, holy shit, my great grandma was a BAMF or whatever they say are going to say, you know, in the year.
2150 or whatever. I know we're gonna be super dead at that time, but the legacies that you and I are both building will not be. And so I...
Amanda Goetz (41:18)
God.
Yeah.
Well, I see it now even like my daughters, obviously they're the daughters of a working mom who's also built companies. But my daughter now, like they had career day and she wants to be an author slash whatever mommy does with like the actual place. She doesn't quite know, she knows I'm like.
She knows like one time my Twitter got hacked and that was like a big deal. was like, no, no, no, mommy makes money from Twitter. Like I need this. But yeah, it's really cool to see. And it's fun because I turned 40 next year. My first book is coming out and I feel like I have this whole second career.
Amanda Northcutt (41:55)
Yeah, right, right.
Amanda Goetz (42:18)
in front of me that I'm just starting. And what you said is so powerful, which is like, you do all this work to set this like foundation that just scales with you. Like if somebody sees me at a keynote next year promoting my book, they can go to my website and be led through this beautiful user journey and mirrored back to them.
the things and the products and the communities that would help them. And I don't have to be tweeting about it. It can happen in whatever way and meet somebody where they are and meet them where I am. So that's the beauty of this because going back to what you said about there's no one way to do this. I don't want to build a business that's solely reliant on me having to post.
two times a day, every single day, because my brand and my business is going to organically evolve. Like, I want to be on stage. I want to be, you know, going with more books and writing and doing all the things. And so the foundation we've set goes with me wherever I build audience. doesn't have to be insert one coin into LinkedIn slot.
Amanda Northcutt (43:39)
Hmm?
Amanda Goetz (43:45)
get $2 back.
Amanda Northcutt (43:48)
Right, yeah, you have created exponential levers for your business. So yeah, these systems that we set up, they're gonna continue humming along and working, whether you put a thousand people through your funnel or a million people through your funnel. And that's pretty freaking cool to have that established and systems up and running. And with these recurring revenue products, you don't have to, you have to increase sometimes your customer service.
But guess what? That can be covered by a VA. And otherwise, I know you have an amazing VA as well who is kind of doing some day-to-day administrative standard operating procedures. And so that's for management. I anticipate in maybe a year you'll have to add another VA for customer service. I'm excited about the future of our continued work together, but you don't need anywhere near the level.
of what we've already done. And so I'm just pumped. I'm so excited for you. this is hopefully, you you'll look back at this when you're 80 years old and see this as like a major point. You're looking back on the map and arc of your life. Like this was, this was something that changed everything.
Amanda Goetz (45:00)
For sure. For sure. And then I'll be like calling you being like, are we going to that spa? Like, when are we going? I'll bring the jet. Like I got the jet now. No, it's really, like, I've learned so much and grown so much. And also just like, it's just been so fun. Like it's been a lot of work. And that's the thing that I want people to know.
Amanda Northcutt (45:06)
I'm like, hell yeah, I already booked us in, come on.
Yep. Yes.
Amanda Goetz (45:30)
Like you have to be serious about leveling up your business to if you like, if you're going to do consultancy or join your accelerator, like those are for people who are like, I'm not F'ing around. I don't know, but I'm not messing around. I'm ready to do this so I can go build some awesome stuff. And that's the part that I'm just like,
I'm so like our energies matched. was like, Hey, I want to do this. Let's do this. And you're like, okay, rolling up our sleeves. Let's go. And we did it and it's, it's fun. And it's, it was just, yeah, a hundred percent. And I know you've seen me cry multiple times when I think about the fact that like, as a single mom with in first generation college grad to be thinking about like, you know, my parents aren't going to be able to leave me with any of my dad's still a plumber and
He's amazing at what he does, but to be able to leave my kids potentially with a safety net so that they can then build something and that just keeps passing down. I truly am the first generation of my family line to get out of kind of a dicey financial situation. so this for sure.
has cemented me, this is the most money, this year is the most money I'll have ever made in my entire life. Like hands down, doubled my highest CMO salary. And it's like, and we were still building the plane while we're flying it, which is just mind blowing. So it's just a testament to the MRR method that it works and that when you show up and do your part,
Like, it's like truly incredible.
Amanda Northcutt (47:29)
Thank you. And I mean, yeah, you are you just for full disclosure, Amanda did all of her writing, like all of the funnel writing and landing page writing. And that was, you know, part of our arrangement from the beginning. Amanda is a phenomenal marketer and writer and loves to write. And so that made sense. I'm going to come back to that in a second. But I promise I won't release this episode until after our webinar. But what were your results?
Amanda Goetz (47:54)
Yes. Okay. So we ended up over 45 K for December. And what I want to say is this, there were three things that won't hit until January. So even though we said get to 50 K in six months, here are the three things. The first is a lot of my new sponsorship packages that we designed and negotiated that were long-term sponsorship packed.
packages for my newsletter kick off in the new year. So even though it's December, I have 15K MRR starting in January. Okay. So that's number one. Number two, part of our office hours upsell strategy was we launched a brand new product called the 35 heart.
a 35 day accountability challenge to do one part of your portfolio career. So the first one was personal brand, the next one's digital course, the next one's newsletter. And When they finish it, they get one month free of office hours so that they can
continue on their journey and see what that group coaching experience is like. That challenge ended in November 20th and they had a week to ignite that. that doesn't like the first wave of those people hitting paid membership in my office hours community is last week of December, first week of January.
based on my calculations will be another 10K MRR on top of where I'm at. So that alone, office hours getting to 20K MRR plus a 15K MRR newsletter, and that's just recurring. And then on top of that, we've got course sales going up. We added affiliates that I know I was a little slower to get.
all those links done, but we added all of the affiliates and then we were doing DM strategy. So there's a couple of things that were turning on that took a while to build in the, it's like the first three months were foundation resetting a bunch of stuff, shifting platforms, moving everything. Then the last three months, which is really just so people understand this was literally October, November, December.
That's all we had. And by the way, there's holidays in there. I launched that 35 hard challenge. So I had, was doing a new product. And so I'm fully like, I'm fully confident that starting January, it's like an easy 50 K. But I think it's important to also be transparent that it's like, this is not smoke and mirrors. said that we'd be transparent from the very beginning. And those are reasons why.
We didn't hit it, but I'm confident. Like I can see the projections and we can see what's coming down the.
Amanda Northcutt (51:12)
Yeah, so we got from 10 to 45 in the six months. And that includes three months of kind of significantly rebuilding your business that we were not anticipating doing when we set out to do this six month project. And then you anticipate, I mean, what, 60, 65 for January, hopefully, when the brand deals drop. And I guess it depends on speaking engagements. We're trying to get those slotted in.
Amanda Goetz (51:38)
Right, right. It's, I've got, just secured some more recurring consulting work because for me, when I think about MRR too, with a portfolio career, I have my marketing consulting work. And so having a few agencies that tap into me for social media strategy, I've locked in some of that. And so there's recurring revenue did like from your digital products. And then there's also recurring revenue from your consulting products. So.
Amanda Northcutt (52:04)
Mm-hmm.
Amanda Goetz (52:06)
I feel very comfortable saying that we will be well above 50K. It might be closer to, you know, 60. And then we've got another 35 hard launching in February, which is another that brought in 15K. So add that to the top of the funnel. So yeah, I feel very confident that we're on the path. Like now I'm like, okay, 100K by December of next year. That's where I'm at.
Amanda Northcutt (52:30)
huh. Yep. I'm to go ahead and call my shot just based on where you're at. And we have only really begun to tap into your potential to get, you know, 60, hopefully. I mean, I kind of think we might be able to get to 70 in January. I really, really, really want to. Okay. I think we're one or two sales away from, from that, but I think you're going to make a million dollars in 2025. It's very doable.
Amanda Goetz (52:57)
to God's ears. Let's go!
Amanda Northcutt (52:59)
I'm calling my shot and we're going to make it happen. And man, this is just just the most fun project. mean, some of the most fun I've had professionally for sure. And you are just such a great partner and human to work with.
Okay, and because of our work together and since we started this behind the scenes journey back in June, July, you and I have both been getting peppered with questions. How do I get my hands on that? How do I get that kind of support? Like, how are you doing this, right? And how is it working? What are they doing? What are you doing? How much does it cost? All these kinds of things.
And again, like I said earlier in the show, we have this full methodology called the MRR method, and that will take you from ideation or an unoptimized business all the way through MRR maximization. And it is a massive process, Herculean effort, roll up your sleeves, do the dirty work, it is not easy. And like I said a few minutes ago also, Amanda did her own writing for all of her funnels. But since y'all have been asking, how do I get this kind of support? We have answered. So.
Introducing the Level Up MRR Accelerator. It is a seven-month full-tilt program starting January 22nd of 2025, and you will get everything that Amanda got and more. We are actually doing all of the writing. We have staffed up in the form of principal consultants, project managers, writers, and have really, really had a great opportunity to dial in our systems and methodology with Amanda as the living proof.
running toward a seven-figure run rate for 2025. So here's the deal. It is a six-figure program. We're limiting this to five similar stage creators. And it's not just the done-for-you services, what we did for Amanda and more. There's also a weekly group coaching element. I'll be teaching most of those. Amanda's gonna teach a few of them, which is awesome. And we have other special guests coming from around the creator economy and the business world to really help you level up from creator to creator.
CEO. So not only are we giving you the fish with all of the done for you services for what we did Amanda and more, we're giving you the fishing pole and helping you become the CEO that we know that you can be. And we are going to enable and equip you to reach your full potential in your business, all within your values, lifestyle requirements, and financial goals. But the cool thing, never have I ever in my entire 20 year career or in the short 18 month history of Level Up Creators,
guaranteed outcomes for our clients. Obviously we had big hopes and aspirations for Amanda, we're gonna get there in seven months, which is why the accelerator is seven months. Turns out, you might need seven months, right? We're guaranteeing your results. And so literal MRR numbers baked into your contract, every single individual will receive a personal MRR guarantee. And if we, for some crazy reason, don't hit your MRR guarantee during the seven month accelerator,
myself and my entire team will continue to work with you at the exact same capacity until we do reach your MRR guarantee. And so this is us putting our money where our mouths are. This is a big risk. Again, this is a curated group of five people, not just random people in different stage with different business types. I'm putting together a very specific type of group who are at a similar stage that Amanda was at seven months ago.
And we're gonna go and kick ass and take names for you in the same way that we did for Amanda in a little bit more structured manner and with the group coaching element, there's also a mastermind element and there's some pretty cool luxury experiences that are gonna come along with this program for the five people who participate. So with that, we hope this is the beginning of many level up accelerators, but Amanda, you have also been the catalyst for a lot of really cool things in our business.
Thank you for that and for anyone who is considering the accelerator, what would you tell them?
Amanda Goetz (57:10)
Like, don't think twice if you actually, if this is your career, invest in it. And it, to me, it's like people go to get an MBA if they're going to go be in consulting and finance so that they can cattle, you know, be a catalyst to their career. This is what you should think about. Like it is truly an ROI positive in many ways, like not only monetarily, like you invest in it and you make it back.
truly you make it back within like the first year or, okay.
Amanda Northcutt (57:45)
Five months is like our payback period.
Amanda Goetz (57:48)
Okay, so if this is how you're gonna spend the next chunk of your career, these are the people you wanna do it with because I'm a proven case study of that it actually works and we did it all in public. So everything is public. You can go see all the updates we sent out and how we shared and we've done webinars, we've done podcasts, we've done a lot of video content. You can see that this was not just like.
smoke and mirrors like, we're buddies. Like, no, we worked and did this and it's proven. So for the five people that are going to get in on this, it's just like, their whole business is going to take off. I'm so pumped.
Amanda Northcutt (58:34)
Thanks. Well, we appreciate your partnership, Amanda. This has been super fun and we need to wrap it up. It is late for both of us. It's very late for you. Thank you again for joining and for anyone who's interested in the MRR Accelerator for 2025, just you can email me directly, amanda at [welevelupcreators.com](http://welevelupcreators.com/). DM me on LinkedIn under Amanda Northcutt as well. And thank you so much for sharing your time with us. Amanda, thank you for your time and expertise and all of your kind words. I really appreciate it.
Amanda Goetz (58:43)
Thank
Amazing. All bye everyone.