How Natalie Fikes Created A Profitable Online Course Through The Inspiration of a Homeless Woman

• Course Instructor: Natalie Fikes

• Website: www.GreaterPurposeSociety.com

• Course Topic: The Greater Purpose System™

• Interesting Stats: I made $5,000 in pre-launch sales during a pandemic, with no advertising.

1. Who are you?

My name is Natalie Fikes, Speaker, Performance Coach, and Founder of The Greater Purpose System™.

2. What’s your course all about?

The Greater Purpose System™ (GPS) disrupts The Cycle of Sabotage to resolve internal conflicts, eliminate mental blocks, and regulate disruptive emotions that prevent you from showing up as who you truly are, creating and maintaining purposeful connections, and living life the way you want.

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3. What makes you an expert in this field?

I have been in the personal development field for the past 17 years. What started as a quest to overcome my broken childhood, led me to starting a youth organization, and being named one of John Maxwell’s Top 100 Leaders. I have spent well over 10,000 hours reading, training, and coaching youth, executives, and organizations, and studying the growing $15 billion personal coaching industry to find the most effective way to add value to my clients.

4. What is the transformation your course offers to the students?

Students of the GPS experience immediate clarity about who they are, what they want, and the practical steps they need to take in order to take action. Testimonials include couples who have rekindled their relationship, parents improving their relationship with their children, business launches, books published, job promotions, and an overall boost in confidence. 

5. Which market does your online course serve and how did you get into it?

It’s crazy to think that the pivot in my personal development journey occurred during The Great Recession. I hadn’t yet identified how personal transformation significantly affects the quality of one’s life. After years of acquiring specialized knowledge, I have aligned myself with the Professional Services market.

6. Why is it important to you to serve this market?

I’ve found that most people who want to improve their lives tend to focus on working harder, getting promoted, or starting a business. They believe that the more they have the better they will be. My work in this market has allowed me to re-engineer a more effective way of thinking. A belief that the better we are, the more we can have to produce through less effort and more intentionality. This means better business, better communities, better families. 

7. Describe the moment when you decided to create your own course. Where were you, what happened and why did you decide to do it?

My coaching business was on cruise control, my speaking career was taking off, and I hit 3 years as a volunteer trainer at The City of Refuge (a shelter for homeless and trafficked women). One day while teaching my Independent Living class, a woman sat at the back of the room with her head down.

No matter what I said or did, she wouldn’t lift her head. My no man left behind mindset wouldn’t allow me to ignore her posture. I decided to switch up my message from the up beat to almost contradicting. I said: “What if you don’t know what to do? What if you don’t want to do the work? What if you’re tired of trying? With each question her head raised. As I stared into her hopeless eyes, she spoke. “I don’t understand. I just don’t understand. I’ve done everything I’ve been told to do. I am a good person. I don’t understand why this is happening to me. I’ve lost my hair. I’ve lost my teeth. I’ve lost my breast.” Her name was Wilma Raines and she had Stage 3 Metastatic Breast Cancer.

Her truth hit me as I responded: “You haven’t lost your voice. What do you want?” My question causes her pause, as I saw a flicker of light in her eyes. I told her that she could live the 6 months she was given to live in pain and misery, or she could seek purpose in her diagnosis. Intrigued by the thought that there could be some meaning in her suffering, she began to explore was to live out the rest of her days. I felt led to bring her into my home, and helped her live the most fulfilling year and a half of her life. When she passed away I was left with a new outlook on personal transformation and what I observed throughout experience.

I recalled asking her over and over again “What do you want?” and reminded her of what she said when she wanted to feel sorry for herself. I reviewed notes from clients and took inventory of my life and realized that the root cause for dissatisfaction, unfulfillment, and unhappiness for even the highest achievers was because we were living our lives based on what we’ve been told, not what we want. It is because of Ms. Wilma’s relentless pursuit to live until she was finished that I dedicated nine month to creating The Greater Purpose System™, and another three months to test and perfect it.

My pre launch took place a month before what would have been her 61st birthday, during a national pandemic and one of the most important elections of my generation. When things got tough, I would remind myself that someone’s quality of life was depending on my execution. I held myself accountable to what I wanted which was to create a self-paced personal development course that teaches people how to live life the way they want.

8. How did you overcome doubtful moments during your course creation journey?

The Greater Purpose System™ has helped me overcome Imposter Syndrome. The first phase is Clarity. By clarifying what I want before I begin anything, I don’t feel the guilt of my accomplishments. The second phase is Critical Thinking. I am now able to embrace that while some things may have come easily, by faith or favor I had to do something in order to get the work done and that’s a big deal.

The third phase is Self-Regulation. I now have an answer for my negative self talk and can align my feelings with what I want. The fourth phase is Authority. I now give myself permission to take action regardless of how I feel, and whether I believe the outcome will be favorable or not. The final phase is Execution. Now that I’ve gotten through the obstacles and self sabotaging feelings, the only thing left for me to do is execute. I’ve gotten more done in the last two years than I have my entire life and I feel like a whole boss doing it.

9. What are some of your tricks to deal with imposter syndrome?

I initially launched the program as a MasterClass and made $5,000. I then pre-launched it as a course and made another $5,000.

10. How long did it take you to create your course?

N/A

11. How did your first launch go?

I initially launched the program as a MasterClass and made $5,000. I then pre-launched it as a course and made another $5,000.

12. How do you structure your launches in general now?

What I’ve learned is that in the same ways plane takes into account air traffic and weather when taking off, the same is true for a product launch. I am finding a trend in personal development buying habits to be the end of the 1st quarter and beginning of the 4th quarter of the year after most people haven’t executed their first quarter plans and realize they only have a little year left.

13. Where does your traffic come from?

The majority of my traffic comes from social media and email marketing.

14. Which content do you like producing the most?

At first I dreaded the thought of putting the course together, but it’s actually the part I love the most. Seeing how one module leads the student one step closer to what they desire brings me great joy. You can’t tell me I’m not creating a Mona Lisa.

15. What online course platform are you using?

My courses are being hosted through Kajabi and I couldn’t ask for a better experience. While I knew the course was amazing, getting it to the customer was a totally different ministry. Because it was my first launch, I knew I needed to know the “how to”. Kajabi made me feel like I knew what I was doing and is so user friendly that I was able to delegate without little training. The only thing missing for me is the ability to set up appointments, but that’s not their ministry.

16. What is amazing about this platform?

I knew what I didn’t know and needed a platform that had everything in one place. When I took into consideration how much I was paying for the individualized services I had, I decided that while Kajabi may cost more monthly, it delivers more value overall.

17. Which features do you wish this platform would have?

N/A

18. Why did you choose this platform over other platforms?

N/A

19. Which other tools do you use to keep your online business running?

Other than my online calendar which I use through Calendly, and Hootsuite for social media marketing, everything I need is on Kajabi.

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20. How many students have you served so far?

I have served hundreds of students through my corporate MasterClass, and have acquired over 50 students during pre launch with revenue valuing $24,850

21. How much revenue have you created during your first launch, and ongoing?

I have served hundreds of students through my corporate MasterClass, and have acquired over 50 students during pre launch with revenue valuing $24,850

22. What are you running costs to keep the online course business going?

What I love about online courses is how low the overhead costs are. For less than $500 a month, the cost of one annual membership, the business keeps going with unlimited revenue potential.

23. What are some of the biggest mistakes you made along the way?

I never wanted to be an entrepreneur, just to add value to the lives of others. I made a lot of mistakes because I worked more from a place of passion than I did strategy. I also wasted a lot of time trying to avoid the process which sabotaged my ability to execute. Once I stayed focused and got the job I realized I could have further ahead if I didn’t try to cut corners.

24. How has your business changed since implementing an online course into the business model?

I have basically digitized myself and created a curriculum that allows me to weed out who I commit my personal time to. Because the system is self-paced, I have freed up more of my time to do more of what I want and make myself more available for volunteering, mentorship, and motherhood.

25. How has your personal life changed?

As a coach I’m always on it for everyone else. Since implementing the online course model, I find that I am more present for myself and and more attentive to the details of my life. I am a living testament of my own system which is truly rewarding.

26. What’s the greatest transformational story you can tell about one (or more) of your students?

The greatest transformation is that of a woman who was approaching her 40th birthday and didn’t want to live. She was separated from her children and house hopping while taking odd jobs to survive. She was so bogged down by life and adulting that she forgot about her gifts, skills, and the connections she has made over the years.

She was able to clarify what she wanted and in no time started putting her life together. She is now a confident business owner, and recently started an international girls mentoring program with her teenage daughter. She used to be a bonafide people pleaser, only doing what everyone else wanted her to do or what she thought would get her ahead. Now, she’s living life the way she wants with non negotiable fees and boundaries to protect her clarity, peace, and purposeful connections. Her transformation along with Ms. Wilma is proof that answering the question “What do you want “ is not only life changing, it is live saving.

27. If you could use a time machine and send yourself back to the time before you started out, what advice would you give yourself, knowing what you know now?

If I could use a time machine to go back to before I created my course I would tell myself that it looks a lot harder than it really is. Focus on the end user and get it done. You’re going to love it.

28. What is your million dollar piece of advice to those who are just getting started in their online course journey OR for those who are looking to scale?

If you are just starting out in creating online courses my advice and hard ask is to simply DELIVER ON THE PROMISE. Ensure that whatever you say your student will be able to do or accomplish by the end of your course is guaranteed if they follow your steps. It’s okay to let it cook until it’s done. We have to protect the integrity of our industry and the invaluable trust of the markets we serve.