How To Make $100,000 Per Year On Instagram #FreedomFastLane

I wasn't charging the amount for the value that I was giving with the program. And so it changed my perspective and my reference point, I suppose.

Which is really encouraging because I was like, oh, well, I guess I've. I've kind of hit the limit. Might as well sell it now.

But, yeah, do you still want to sell it now?

No, no. I guess.

Build a business, invest the profits. I'm Ryan Daniel Moran and this is Freedom Fastlane.

Well, howdy, folks. Greetings from Austin, Texas. Welcome to the show. Today I'm chatting with one of your fellow listeners here on Freedom Fast lane and@capitalism.com and he runs an Instagram page called the Traveling Nomads. And it's an account that he built as a hobby. And he grew it to over 100,000 followers and then over 300,000 followers. That's great. Except that he's not really making any money from it. He's making some from some brand deals and like the occasional coaching call and stuff like that. But it's not enough for him to quit his job as an electrician. And before we recorded, he said, how fast do you think I could take this to 100 grand? And I said, I could do it in 24 hours. So I went through his options in this chat, and you're going to hear him have some resistance to the ideas that I threw at him. And I know when someone has resistance to something that they're not gonna do it. So there was a lot of, how does this feel? All right, then let's backtrack. How does this feel? Because a lot of you I know, are going into business and you have this idea, I'm gonna make a million dollars or I'm gonna make $250,000 or whatever it is. And you actually don't believe that you can do it. And so you don't. Cause there's resistance there. So what I did with Reagan was, All right, let's dial it back to here. Is this reasonable? Okay, what about this piece? Could you do this?

Is this.

And so a lot of my work with entrepreneurs is just getting them to find what's easy so that we can build up some momentum towards something. And I know that Reagan could have a six figure income from this. There's no problem looking at it logically. It makes absolute sense. And so a lot of this call is just getting him to think through the resistance of that and then take the first step. And you're going to hear what that first step is. And I predict that once he does that first Step. He's going to hit six figures over the course of a few months. And so we'll be watching, and we'll get to see what happens. You'll really enjoy this. Give us a few minutes to warm up, because Reagan was nervous, and also we were getting past some of his initial mental blocks. And then once you hear it clear, things get really fun. Enjoy.

Hey, Reagan. Welcome to the show.

Hey, Ryan. How's it going?

Doing good, man. Tell me a little bit about your business and how I can help.

So about two years ago, I started an Instagram account, and it's called the Traveling Nomads. And it was kind of more of a hobby because I stopped traveling at that time. I used to live in Australia, and then I moved back home to Canada. So I started this account, and I started reposting other people's travel photos from around the world, people that I would follow, and I would be kind of envious of that. I wasn't traveling anymore. And so after about six months of reposting other people's photos, my account grew up to 10,000 followers. And I was like, okay, that's a pretty good audience. And I continued to post, and now it's at about two years, and I have a little over 300,000 followers.

Good for you.

Yeah. And I would mix in, like, within those two years, I started traveling, and I went back to, like, Indonesia. I went to Hawaii and Europe, and so I would mix in my own photos as well. And that kind of gave a little more authenticity to what I was creating. And so some companies started reaching out to me and started to work with me. And, you know.

I think I made my first. I think it was, like, a hundred dollars when I had, like, 30,000 followers. And I was so stoked because I didn't know that you. You could, like, make money, like, doing something that you enjoyed. Because, like, most of my life, I was making money doing things that I didn't really enjoy that much.

Yeah, making money supposed to be hard. It can't be this easy.

I know, exactly. And so that was. I was, like, shocked that you could do something that you enjoyed at the same time. And once I kind of realized, like, oh, you could make money, like, my brain just started thinking of, like, all the different ways that I could monetize my account and, like, how I could provide value to the people that fought followed me, because I know that. I don't know, like, there's so many businesses out there where they're just trying to suck you dry out of your money. And I kind of wanted to find a way to provide value or kind of like, oh, man, I forget his name now. But he says serve. He says serve the world unselfishly and then profit wildly. Oh, Ezra Firestone, he says that.

So, Reagan, tell me where you're trying to go right now and how I can help you do that.

Go with the business?

Yes.

Well, I've been considering selling the business.

So where does the revenue come from right now?

So, essentially, I help out.

Other people who are trying to get into the travel photography.

Business on Instagram, and I help them grow up their accounts, and I use travel giveaways and other things that I've learned over the years to help them grow to a certain number of followers, which will help them get brand deals.

And where does most of the revenue come from right now?

So 66% of the revenue comes from that, and then the other 34% comes from brand deals.

Got it. So about a third of the revenue comes from sponsorships and sponsored posts, and then.

About two thirds of it comes from you selling a product or doing coaching for people who want to do photography.

Yes. Yeah. Exactly.

What form is the coaching in?

I've done a few Skype calls, but mostly just over the phone.

And so you sell like a coaching package of some kind of.

Yeah, it pretty much guarantees that I will get them to a certain number of followers on their Instagram account. So they are seen? Yes, they have a larger following. I usually sell getting their account to 10,000 followers, and I guarantee that I won't use bots. And then along the way, I answer any questions that they may have on how they can reach out to brands and get deals and sponsorships and travel for free, because, yeah, that's kind of what I've used my page to do.

What is the Instagram handle on the business, Reagan?

The Traveling nomads with two Ls?

With two Ls. Okay, cool.

Yeah, the Canadian version.

So you're considering selling this business? Why are you considering selling it?

Well, I kind of feel that I've hit the point where I cannot scale it anymore unless were to put more time into it.

And so I guess it's just a trade off, as if I want to put more time into it or if I want to invest into something else, because I kind of feel like I've hit a plateau. And at that point, for me, it kind of made sense to cash in and then kind of invest it into another business where I could grow that has more opportunity.

What would you want on the Other side of that.

Like, do you mean in terms of selling the business or.

Yeah, if you sold the business and you moved on and you did something else, what would you do then? Or what, what would you want then?

I said, that's a tough question.

I guess just another business. Like I've been looking at buying a storage company here in Canada and.

The gentleman I'm buying it off is a little older, so he's looking to dissolve the whole thing. And so that's kind of something. I've actually had that in play for about a year now. And I never really considered the option of using like the sale of my account for the down payment of the company. And so that's like what the thought is going on for me right now of kind of where I want to head next.

So I'm having a hard time finding the problem and the problem. But, but I hear a little bit of like mental dissonance where you feel like you've hit a plateau and so you're thinking about selling the business. But it doesn't sound like there's anything that you're really trying to run away from by selling the business. Is there something that you're not happy with in the business that.

You'Re holding back right now?

I'm not happy with.

Well.

I guess, I guess not necessarily the business itself, but like the business isn't bringing in enough income for me quit my job as like a full time electrician.

By the storage company which I'm looking into. It would then allow me like, like it would be bringing in enough cash flow for me to be able to quit my job as an electrician.

Okay, now I understand. Now we found it. So what you're saying, what you're saying is what you really want is to go full time as an entrepreneur. And this business as it is right now doesn't make enough in order for you to be full time. So the solution that you're considering is to sell the business and use it as a down payment for something else that may allow you to go full time. Is that a fair summary?

Yeah. Okay. That's exactly what I've been working.

Got it. So now we've got it. Now we've got the right target. So let me ask you something different. If we could keep the business and it create a full time income for you so that you could quit the job as the as being electrician and just spend your time running this as a business, would that accomplish the same outcome for you?

Yes, it would, but it would be hard for Me to let go of the storage company as well, because that's been in Progress for about 10 months now, and it seems like a great.

I'm not asking you to give up anything. Just if you kept the Traveling Nomads and you didn't sell it, but you found a way to operate it to where that was your full time income, would you still want to sell it or would we still check the box of what you really want, which is to be full time? And I'm cool either way. I just want to set this up in a way that gets you closer to what you want.

Mm. I think if I could, I think I would keep it at that point.

Great. So how much would it need to make in order for you to be happy keeping it?

I think if I could triple the current revenue, if I could make around 60,000 a year off of it, then I would want to keep it.

Okay. Would it be okay if we played with the numbers 100,000 instead?

Sure. Yeah.

Okay, great. That will just make the conversation easier. And I think you can make way more than 60,000 with this business. So tell me a little bit about how you're getting clients right now.

I don't do any advertising, which is crazy, but I just get all of my clients from my Instagram page and I advertise through the captions on my post.

And that's mainly how I get clients. Or a lot of people come to me and they ask.

How do you like, how can I travel for free? And how can I get into the photography business? And then I give them a few options, and then I also give them the option if they want to work with me. So mostly through requests on Instagram or through the caption on my posts.

And it seems to take people over to the travelingnomadsinstagram.com and then they go to services and pricing. Is that how you're getting them right now?

Yes, but the website's more for validation that I'm a legitimate business because I had one customer who turned down my services because at that point I didn't have a website. He was trying to scam him. So it's more for. To show that I have an established business.

Yeah. So, but what I'm saying is this is the correct place where you send people. Yes, yes. Okay. So there's a couple of things that I'm noticing that I want you to think about. Number one, I noticed that you're promising 10,000 followers to someone who goes through your training, and you're currently charging $950. Is that the most updated pricing?

Yep.

Okay. So I want you to immediately triple your prices.

Okay.

How does that feel?

That.

Seems like a lot.

So let's break this down. Traditional advertising rates are for guaranteed followers, which is often a mix of bots and shoutouts, is between 25 and 50 cents per follower. You are currently charging 10 cents a follower, and they're coming from coaching and your own audience. That's right. Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah. So you're endorsing someone, which is basically a brand deal, and guaranteeing a certain number of followers while coaching them along the way, and basically incubating a small business.

Mm.

Am I wrong on anything yet?

No.

Okay, so if you wanted to be. If you tripled your prices, you would still be below market rate.

Now I know why you're resistant to it. You're resistant to it because most of your clients are broke.

Is that right?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

So I have this phrase that I like to play with, Reagan, and it's. I think this will really. You'll really enjoy this. Sometimes the problem, the reason why you're not making the money that you want isn't you, and it isn't your product. Neither one of those are the problem. But who you are targeting with yourself and your product can be the problem. So one person will say, $1,000. That's insane. And other people will go, like me. I'll go, why the hell is he charging so little? Something is wrong.

Yeah.

Now. Now, the reason why most of your clients are broke is because most people in the traveling space are broke, and which is why they're hiring someone to give them guaranteed followers and a business. Yeah. So the whole way that you have it set up is screams, people who have no money. Please make me feel good by giving me money. And if you were to flip that and simply structure this as. This is a business program, and you don't even need to call it that. But if you think about it like that, what you are doing is basically giving someone an asset that they can sell ads on for the next five years and potentially make hundreds of thousands of dollars per year because you're lighting their fire by endorsing them on the page that you spent years building up.

Mm. Yeah.

That is worth far more than $950. There are people listening to this podcast right now going like, they want it. They want to give you money right now. Now, the. The. The other thing that I would invite you to consider is broadening this to more than just traveling photographers. Now, that might not. You might not be taking that to.

You might not be taking that to.

Every market in the world, but you could at least take that to anyone who wants to do photography.

Yeah.

And anyone who wants to do photography. Like, now we've got somebody who is thinking a little bit about a business and a career. And you're gonna guarantee that I have the leverage of 10,000 followers and the coaching of how to leverage that to build a following that could double or triple or go up 10 times that. If I do what he tells me to do over the course of the year, I might be able to go full time as a photographer.

Yeah.

So you have a very, very valuable asset that in my mind, you should immediately triple your prices and you should immediately put together a brief sales video or sales page that just tells your story. That's all you have to do is I just started taking pictures and I got it to $300,000. 300,000 followers. And today I get brand deals and people from all over the world follow me. And I'm able to make, I'm able to make a decent living simply doing the things I love and sharing the photos that other people are doing, doing what they love. It's a powerful, it's a powerful message. And when you throw in a guarantee of 10,000 followers, there are some people who would pay way more than what I'm suggesting. You charge.

Yeah.

Because I never looked at it that way before.

And if you think about it this way.

If you Simply did a.

90 day coaching intensive, which was one group call a week with the guarantee of 10,000 followers, at the end of 90 days.

You sell 30 of them at three grand, there's your hundred grand.

That would be. Oh man, I feel like at that point I would need.

Like. So as we were talking earlier.

Like, the people that I'm dealing with, like, don't quite have that much money, so.

Don'T deal with them anymore.

But that's like most of my, like.

People who are working with me, that's fine. You only need 30 of them.

You don't need to talk to 99% of them. You literally need 1% of them. So all you do is talk to the 1%.

How do I find the 1%?

You start talking to them. They're already in your audience.

Yeah, I guess so.

Most people make their decisions based on the quantity of people that they can target, the reach that they can target, rather than targeting the right people who are going to support their business. But you are not building a business for 300,000 people. You're building a business for 30 people. Your brand is 300,000 people. Your brand gives you the leverage for you to serve the 30 people who want your services the most.

Yeah.

Think out loud.

Yeah, sorry, I'm an internal thinker. I guess I've never thought of it that way, that you're building a business for 30 people and not like 300,000 people. Mm.

But I. But what happens if I go and I start marketing towards that 1% and I try and get those 30 people for that 90 day.

Like, program where people get their accounts at 10,000 and we have calls every week and all that stuff, and then, like, no one signs up for it. Like, would it be.

Like, at what point? Like, would I go for external advertising at that point?

So I want you to do this. This is gonna be an assignment, okay. And I want you to write this one down. Like, word for word.

You're gonna make a post.

And the post says the following.

Over the last X number of years, I've enjoyed.

Traveling the world while getting paid for it and having brands pay me a decent living just to do the things I love.

After accumulating or after reaching over 300,000 people on Instagram every day, I'm considering putting together a training for. For photographers to teach them how to build and monetize a really exciting Instagram following.

I'll also work with you and endorse you using my audience until you're at at least 10,000 followers on your page.

It will cost somewhere between 2k and 4k.

If you want it, please send me a DM.

I like that.

Okay. Are you. Did you get all that?

Yeah, I did.

And I want you to post that on whatever social media platform you have the most engagement. So that could be a fake. First of all, you have to post it on your own personal Facebook page. Your personal Facebook page.

I don't mix anything with my personal stuff.

Do it. Do it anyway. So the reason here is because in this case, you're the business. The Traveling Nomads isn't your business. You are. You're the one with the intellectual property. And what we're really doing here is we have intellectual property that other people want. So we don't even need to reference the fact that traveling nomads is your business. You. Your personal Facebook page is simply putting out to the world that you're taking on clients.

Yeah, yeah, it's true.

They're completely different.

So I want you to post on your personal Facebook page, and I want you to post it in either an Instagram story and all I do is I just write something out on my notes app on my iPhone and take a screenshot of it and post it on Instagram. But if you can either. You can either do it as a story or you can do it, you know, as a regular post. Whatever you're more comfortable with.

Yeah.

And then I just want you to see what happens.

So.

Okay. On my personal Facebook and on the traveling nomads.

Yes.

Okay. All right. I can do that.

And just. Just see what happens.

Yeah.

Can you do that today?

Yep. Yeah, I can do that today.

Okay. I want you to do that today. And I'm following you. And so is allofcapitalism.com now. So we're watching.

Wow.

And all you have to do from there. So let me give you a little bit of a way to close these people.

Yeah.

When they reach out, you simply say, hey, thanks for reaching out. Can you tell me a little bit about what you're trying to do so I can make sure I can help.

That your opening response, someone tells you and then you create one little po, like one little follow up that is. Okay, great. Here's how this is gonna work. And then you tell them how it's gonna work. And it might be, I'm gonna work with up to 30 people in a Facebook group. We're gonna do one call a week. I'm gonna look at your account once a week.

And I'm going to.

Work with you until you're at least 10,000 followers and show you how to monetize it, the cost is going to be three grand.

Hmm.

Do you want it?

I can definitely see how that would work.

Well, tell me why.

Well, I think one of the things that people really are hesitant about when it comes to social media and purchasing packages is authenticity. And so if you were to invite someone into a group of 29 other people who are in the same situation as them, and then we can all get together and share common questions within the program. I think that would bring a lot of comfort to people, make them more willing to spend a larger amount of money like that. Whereas people can be more hesitant with online transactions. And it seems like a great.

Setup of how to, like, teach one another and teach these people.

Yeah. And there's no, like, there's no assumptions. Right. We're not trying too hard here. It's just, here's the offer and do you want it?

Yeah. Yeah.

There's nothing weird or slimy about it. It's just like, this is what's going on. Do you want it?

Mm, yeah. Nice and simple.

Yep. So I want you to post that today, and then I want you to shoot me a message and let me know how it goes.

Okay, sounds good. I can. I can definitely do that.

Now. Let's move forward on something here. Let's say that this goes.

Terribly.

Yeah.

If no one signs up. We wasted five minutes.

If it goes okay and it sells. Five.

Are you happy blowing it out of the water for five people for 15 grand?

Oh, yeah, definitely.

You said that really enthusiastically.

Yeah, if I could make. If I could get, like, 15 grand in, like, the period of a week, I would be. I'd be stoked.

Great, Great.

Okay, so you'd be happy. You'd blow it out of the water for these five people that give you three grand. If that's the case, and they're all really, really successful and they've all got accounts that are 10,000 followers, and they've all gotten one sponsorship, even if it's for a hundred bucks.

Do you think that they're happy.

With. Well, yeah, I guess if they had their first sponsorship, they would be happy because then it would open up their eyes to what could be, like, done in the future.

Yeah.

Yeah. So, yeah.

So how do you think the second launch is gonna go?

I guess it would just. It would only increase because then I could. I could ask these people if I could use them as examples on my page.

Right.

And then that would also bring in more trust for the remaining people who didn't really sign up the first time.

Yeah, that's right. So if we sign up 15 people the first time, how many do you think we're going to sign up the second time?

Maybe double.

Great. So now we're at 10, which is another 30 grand. Are you happy blowing it out of the water for those 10 people?

Oh, yeah, definitely.

Okay, great. And if they have a lot of success and they have accounts that are doing, you know, they've got their first deal, and you've got the momentum of the first brand or that first group. That first group. People continuing to grow and continuing to get sponsorship deals. And this second group is now off to the races, and you're sharing their success in your stories, and you're showing their pictures on your Instagram and you're documenting their growth. How many people you think would launch would sign up the third time?

Probably double again or maybe even more.

So now let's just say we're at 20. Now. The third round does 20 people.

Yeah.

So we now did a total of 35 spots at three grand, and we're at $115,000 and you can take the rest of the year off.

I don't know if I could take the rest of your off, I'd just keep doing it.

Okay, so how does this feel right now?

Honestly, it feels a little out of reach because. I don't know. I don't know, it just seems. Well, first I have to triple my price of what I'm offering now. But I guess I would also be tripling the value if I were to do it in that way.

So let's try to lighten this up a bit. First of all, the, the overwhelm might often comes from forecasting what's going to happen in the future. But if we just look at the fact that we need five people right now, how does that feel?

That seems that that could be attainable.

Yeah. And if we don't worry about tripling our prices because you're going from one price to another price. If you just say what the value is, the fact that they're getting 10,000 guaranteed followers and you're putting together a coaching program in which they're probably going to get their first brand deal and they have a little mini business that they can start, what's the value of that?

I guess the value would be way more than $1,000 when you like that.

Yeah. And if you didn't have the reference point of $1,000 in your brain, 3,000 would seem simple and easy to you. The reason you're stressed is because you're comparing it to what is your present reality, which is $1,000 per client.

Yeah, that's a good point actually.

So if you don't have that reference point, 3,000 feels perfectly fine.

Okay, so if you were in my shoes and you had no reference point of the value, what would your price point be for something like that?

I would have started at five grand and then probably raised it over a period after I got results of my initial students.

What?

That's wow. Okay.

Your reference point is build an Instagram page with followers on it. My reference point is business owners who are building an asset that is going to last for years.

That they can leverage to launch products, they can leverage to build personal brands, they can sell info courses and you've spent years of your life building up the asset that will make that happen in freaking 90 days.

Yeah. Yeah.

So you're going to save them three years and allow them to earn part time incomes doing their frickin hobby based on your intellectual property and what you've spent years building up.

And someone has the gall to ask me to charge less than ten grand for that.

That's how I see you.

Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Makes a lot of sense.

I guess I should. Yeah, I should be re. Evaluating the.

Like, my reference point for the value of it. Just.

Just get rid of the reference point.

Just.

Just. Just like, settle into where the value is.

Okay.

And, like, the. The value is. And look, if it makes. If it makes it easier for you to charge, make it three payments of one grand.

So now it's your reference point just three times.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

So, like, it's the same thing. As long as it's just. What. What is going to trip you up is if you're not comfortable with the number, and so you have tenseness over asking for it, if you don't have tenseness over asking for it, then you won't push anyone away. So it has to feel easy to you.

Yeah. And I think at this point, I do have a little tenseness with the number just because it's not like what I'm used to asking for or making in a certain period.

What number are you comfortable with?

I guess the number I have there. But it. No, but it makes sense, you know, like, when you. When you explain it, how you just explained it, of, like, the amount of value you're providing a new business to, like, advertise. To free. Advertise for free. To, like, that amount of followers, like, 3,000 or more, like even 5,000, like, does make sense to me. Now as we're having this conversation, let's.

Try and make this as easy as possible. And. Because even if it makes sense, it doesn't mean that it. It feels good. So how does 1500 bucks sound?

Sounds good.

Does it feel easy in your body?

That seems quite easy. Yeah.

How does it feel?

Feels good, I guess. I guess now as we're talking, though, it feels. It does feel a little less than, like, the actual value.

How do you feel about $1,500 down and $1,500 once you cross 10,000 followers?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. That seems.

There's your offer then.

Yeah.

All right.

Like that. So we started this conversation by saying you wanted to sell your assets so that you could have a down payment on another business that you thought could make you full time. We've instead turned the conversation into how you might be able to go out, way out, earn your electrician job by doubling down on what you've got.

Yeah.

How do you feel about how you want to move forward now?

I guess my initial thought with it was that I kind of plateaued, but I guess I just wasn't offering. I wasn't charging the amount for the value that I was giving with the program. And so it changed my perspective and my reference point, I suppose.

Which is really encouraging because I was like, oh, well, I guess I've kind of hit the limit. Might as well sell it now.

Do you still want to sell it now?

No, no. I guess that I would consider would be once I could get it going and maintained, I would just. I'd like to hire someone else to continue it.

Great.

And then just so I would have more free time to pursue other businesses, because I do want to continue to expand.

Yeah, of course. And when you. When you. When you have 120 grand coming in from this working one group call a week.

You'Ve got plenty of free time to pursue other businesses. And you've got enough money to hire somebody to do all the evaluations or the posts or whatever you don't want to do.

Mm, yeah. Also. So one more question with. With the group call, are you suggesting that I do like single calls to each person or do like an entire group call with everybody?

You should do one group call a week.

And then you should spend a little bit of time in the Facebook group watching who is posting and following your directions, looking at their accounts. You could spend like two to three hours a week actually interacting with people and looking at their posts.

Yeah. Okay.

Make you sense.

Y. Oh, yeah, definitely.

Cool, dude. Well, can't wait to see what you do. Shoot me a message when you've got the post up because I want to see the interactions on it.

Yeah, definitely. Okay, that sounds good.

All right, my friend, let us know how it goes.

All right, Appreciate it. Thanks, Ryan.

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