In this episode of The Pilates Business Podcast, host Seran Glanfield sits down with Daniel Kosmala from Uscreen to break down exactly what it takes to create a successful video-on-demand platform in 2025. If you've ever dreamed of turning your classes into a scalable online offer—but got stuck on where to start—this one's for you. Daniel shares expert insights from working with thousands of boutique fitness pros, from Pilates to yoga and beyond. They dive deep into monetization strategies, the must-have elements of a high-converting funnel, and how even small audiences can generate big income. Learn how to launch lean (yes, your iPhone will do!), find your niche, and build a loyal online community that fuels revenue month after month.
Whether you're still teaching in-studio or want to go all-in on digital, this episode is your roadmap to building a profitable, scalable Pilates business beyond your four walls.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode is for every studio owner who's toyed
with the idea of launching avideo on-demand platform but
maybe got stuck in the how do Ieven start phase.
Today, I'm sitting down withDaniel from YouScreen.
He's worked with thousands ofcreators, including boutique
fitness pros just like you,who've turned their content into
(00:21):
consistent monthly income, andtoday he's pulling back the
curtains on what is actuallyworking in 2025.
We're talking revenueexpectations, common funnel
mistakes and the leanest way tolaunch without pro equipment or
an enormous team.
So if you're wanting yourstudio to scale beyond the four
(00:42):
walls, it starts here.
Let's dive in.
Well, hi there, I'm SarenGlanfield.
I'm a business and marketingstrategist just for boutique
fitness studio owners like you.
If you're ready to be inspiredand make a bigger impact, you're
in the right place.
All you need are a few keystrategies, the right mindset
(01:04):
and some support along the way.
Join me as I share thereal-life insights that will
help you grow a sustainable andprofitable studio.
This is the Pilates BusinessPodcast.
Hey there, and welcome back tothe show.
I'm your host, saren Glanfield,and today we're talking about
(01:27):
something that often comes upamongst the studio owners that I
work with, and that is how toactually make money with
on-demand video.
I know that for those of youwho taught through COVID, you
are very familiar with this,perhaps a little more familiar
than you ever wished you hadbeen, but the reality is that
(01:48):
video on demand is actually avery powerful way to scale
revenue for your studio business, but only when it's done right,
and that's why I'm thrilled tobring on Daniel from Uscreen
today.
Daniel's been in the marketinggame for over 15 years.
He's worked with nonprofits,small businesses, even Fortune
(02:10):
300 companies, but what reallysets him apart is his
data-driven approach to helpingfitness creators build video
membership platforms that reallywork.
So he's seen it all, from folkslaunching with a zero audience
and still turning a profit tobusinesses sitting on a goldmine
of content that just need theright funnel to explode.
(02:31):
So welcome Daniel.
I'm so glad you're here.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
So let's kick off and perhaps talk a little bit about
what the video on demand worldlooks like in 2025.
The growth we've seen obviouslywe saw COVID come and go and
that switch moved us a lotonline and can you tell us a
little bit about what you'veseen, obviously since you've
been at Uscreen?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
So I've been at Uscreen since August of 2019,
when the world looked a littlebit different than it does today
, but even then there was this.
The reason I joined the companywas because I saw what the
platform was back then.
It was like, oh, this.
It just clicked instantly oflike this is how somebody can go
and create their own version ofNetflix.
(03:19):
And at the time we didn't havea community feature, we didn't
have calendar Like, we didn'thave all these robust features
that we have now.
But it was like, hey, you canget your own Netflix catalog,
you can get your own app thathas that built into it.
It's seamless, it's so easy touse.
And I was like, if they're herenow, wow, this could be
somewhere else completelydifferent in a couple of years.
(03:39):
And then, six months into mytime at U-Screen, covid hit, the
world, shut down and everyoneovernight was like we need your
platform.
So I remember hearing from oursales team that, like, our
inbound leads overnight wentfrom like hundreds a month to
thousands a month, and so it wasa very wild time in the fitness
(04:01):
world was having to navigate,uh navigate, having shut down
studios and like crap, how do weget our content in front of our
customers so that they don'tpull their money from us and we
don't have to shut down and gofigure out something entirely
different.
Um, and so we helped tons ofstudios navigate that.
Tons of fitness creators, um,some who just happened to like
(04:24):
launch in February of 2020.
And then their businessexploded the next month because
everyone needed their workoutsall of a sudden.
So we've we've seen quite thetransformation, and then we've
even we've obviously seen theshift back post COVID of like
all those studios who wentonline, who took on this big.
What they thought was like, hey, we're going to do this online
(04:46):
thing to like weather the storm.
Some of those studios were like, oh, actually, we just realized
we unlocked an entirely newrevenue stream for the business,
because now, instead of justbeing beholden to the people
within our 10 mile radius of ourstudio, like we're reaching
people on a different continentwho are consuming and loving our
content, and so we've helpedpeople navigate that, whereas
(05:08):
others were like this is theheaviest burden I've ever had to
bear, like running this and mystudio and like trying to
maintain a normal life is justoverwhelming because it's just
me, or it's me and one otherperson or small team and it's
just too much and then we don'tfeel like it's worth it and so
those went back to just thestudio model.
(05:28):
So, like we've seen kind ofthis, the full spectrum of
experiences, and in 2025, likeit's, it's so interesting to see
how far not only our producthas come, but like the education
of um, our, our users or ourcustomers at Uscreen, which is
like we I used to go to, we hadthis conference we would go to
(05:50):
every year and in 2021, I went.
That was like the firstgathering post COVID, even
though we, I think we still hadto take COVID tests to get into
the conference.
But we, I got there and peoplewould come up to our table and
be like what's's you screen?
And it would take like a fewparagraphs of description from
me for people to understand whatwe did, how, how it worked and
(06:12):
all those things.
Now, when I go to a conferencelike I'm in next week I'll be in
New York with a number of ourcustomers just spending time
together.
But even if I walk up tosomebody on the street or, you
know, run into somebody at aconference and they're like, oh,
what's Uscreen?
I'm like, oh, we're a videomonetization platform where
people can sell membership, theycan sell courses, they years,
in that it doesn't take as longfor people to understand what we
(06:33):
do and how we do it, and sothat's beneficial for us in that
(06:55):
the sales cycle doesn't take 10months.
It takes 30 days now becausepeople just get it.
Because people just get it andbecause they're able to get that
faster, it also helps themreasonably like be their
timeline to success is shorterbecause they're not having to
like wrap their mind around thismodel that they don't really
understand or whatever it is.
(07:16):
So that's that's kind of wherewe sit these days.
And like you're you're going tohear I've been hearing since
2012, like YouTube, youtube issaturated.
Or this industry is saturated.
There's like it's 2025.
People are still saying thatand it's still not true.
And the same goes for like ourindustry.
Like it is it more mature?
Yes, is it saturated?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
no, no, yeah, no, and I think that's it's worth sort
of just you know, know, talkinga little about that, because I
do think that is a commonmisconception that there is.
You know, it's been done before.
So therefore, you know, someoneelse is doing a online Pilates
thing, probably not the placethat I should spend my time, but
(07:57):
that and that's not how I wouldapproach it necessarily, but I
but, like you said, it is, it'sa different market today, so
let's talk a little bit aboutwhat does it really take in 2025
to start a video on demandplatform and to be successful.
Can you dive into a little bitof the details?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
If you are fitness, pilates, yoga, instructor, any
of those things and you haveeither run your own studio or
you've taught classes and maybeyou've taught classes at a
specific gym or you've been oneof those instructors who runs
from studio to studio all overthe city to teach classes all
(08:42):
day.
If you've done that, you havewhat it takes to make something
work online too.
And because what it takes isjust a relentless pursuit of,
like, showing up and figuring itout as you go, and I think a
lot of people have thismisconception that, like, when
it comes to building an onlinebusiness, it's the dream is
(09:04):
you're sitting on the beach andyou're just getting
notifications and, yeah, like, acash registers is going off
nonstop.
Can can that happen?
Absolutely, we see it happenall the time.
Is that normal?
Depends on the person, dependson the business, but, like,
ultimately, you're starting abusiness Like you're.
Are you a creator?
(09:24):
Sure, I actually don't likereferring to our customers as
creators because I think itundersells what, what they do.
I think you're, they'reactually all entrepreneurs, and
I think most of them don'tactually think of themselves as
entrepreneurs.
They're just like.
I'm just trying to figure thisout and I'm like, well, you need
to make the mindset shift ofyou are an entrepreneur because
it's going to make the mindsetshift of you are an entrepreneur
(09:44):
because it's going to make thehardships easier.
And I know that's that seemscontradictory in nature.
But, like so many of the peopleI talked to are like this is
just so hard and I wasn'texpecting it to be so hard.
And I was like and I asked themlike you started a business and
you didn't think it was goingto be hard.
That's what starting a businessis and, in fact, starting a
(10:05):
business even successfulbusinesses are more, while
they're defined by theirsuccesses.
If you look at the track record,the fail rate is like or not
the fail rate, but like thenumber of things you get wrong
and fail at while doing thebusiness is like 70 to 80%,
probably maybe even higher.
Like it's kind of like abaseball batting average.
(10:27):
If you get up to the plate andyou hit the ball once out of
every three times you're at theplate, you're one of the best
hitters in the league.
It's the same thing withentrepreneurship.
If you can get up and make itnot even a home run, just a base
hit, one of every threeexperiments you're doing, doing
great and so I think people justcome in not expecting that and
(10:49):
so make making sure people orentrepreneurs are able to make
like come to terms with thatearly in the journey I think is
like one of the biggest things.
I try to communicate withcustomers because I I'll talk to
customers who are all over kindof the lifespan of their
business, but I know that if Ican get in early and have like
very honest conversations withthem about what it's going to
(11:11):
look like, the likelihood thatthey'll be discouraged declines
significantly because, they'relike this is just a part of the
journey.
So I think it takes a very, verystrong will and mindset, like
if you've, if you're and ifyou're in the fitness world and
you're able to force yourself toget up out of bed and work your
(11:33):
butt off for hours a day,sweating whatever, in addition
to everything else you're doing,like you can do.
This, too, is the very is.
Is what I'll say about that Interms of like other things, like
the more practical side ofthings.
That's more of the very is.
Is what I'll say about that interms of like other things, like
the more practical side ofthings.
That's more of the mindset,psychological thing.
But in terms of more practical,you don't need, like you don't
have to go out and watch ahundred YouTube videos about the
(11:55):
best camera in or the bestmicrophone or the best lights.
The best camera you have you'vegot is the one that you have.
Like, this is perfectly fine.
We have tons of customers whohave only ever used their phones
for their business, and that'sfine.
Should you upgrade at somepoint?
Like if, yeah, you should makeit a priority to improve your
(12:15):
production, but when you'regetting started, there's nothing
wrong with using your phone,and there are microphones you
can get that will attach to yourphone, because I think,
honestly, if, if you're going toinvest in something right out
of the gate, it should be audio.
If you don't have clear audioin 2025, people don't like that,
like, they're not veryforgiving, and lighting don't
(12:35):
like, don't worry about it, youcan figure it out later.
But the thing I think the otherthing really important to
figure out is who you're for,and some of this speaks to like
brand.
But in this day and age, whenthere are so many fitness
businesses out there, so manydigital fitness presences online
, so many online Pilatesbusinesses, so many online yoga
(12:58):
businesses the thing that, like,you can't just go create a
generic fitness approach anymore.
There has to be somethingunique and it can't.
It can be your personality, itcan be the specific method that
you teach.
Maybe you've come up with thisrevolutionary yoga practice that
no one's ever heard of.
Like, we have some veryinteresting niche approaches to
(13:20):
fitness that you like if I toldyou about them, he's's like I
never would have thought of that.
Um, but those businesses have ahold and people remember them
because it's unique and thatyou've got to figure out what
your unique um, you could callit a value proposition.
You can call it whatever youwant, but like you have to
figure out your unique approachthat is going to draw people to
(13:42):
towards you, because it it's andit's very much like a
personality.
Like there are people who arenaturally will naturally
gravitate towards me because ofmy personality.
There are also people who willnaturally gravitate away from me
or be repelled by thatpersonality, and that's okay.
You have to be comfortable withunderstanding that you're going
to attract some people andyou're going to repel others,
(14:03):
and that's just kind of thenature of life.
And if you can hone in on yourunique approach and what about
your language or your or thatapproach that draws people in
you can then kind of mega shoutthat through a megaphone and let
more people know, and thatthat's the goal is.
Like you're not you can try toreach everybody, but just keep
(14:26):
your message consistent in yourapproach.
And even if you are, let's say,you get a reel that goes viral
and you get a million views,great, it's okay that only 20 of
those people or a hundred ofthose people are going to make
it to your website from thatreel or whatever it is, because
those are the people you wantand those are the people you
need to focus on serving.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yeah, a lot of really great tips in there.
I have to say, and I think oneof the ones that really stands
out is number one yes, you arebuilding a business and that
means you have to have a strongvalue proposition.
You have to know what problemyou're solving and for whom,
right.
And then you need to packagethat into a like a marketing
message and a brand message thatshowcases and conveys and
(15:09):
articulates that value in a waythat's really compelling to the
people that you want to workwith.
And I think you know youcaptured all of that.
It was so and so many.
It's so powerful to hear itfrom you too, because we talk
about this a lot.
You can't just put a video outand expect for it to take off.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I mean, maybe you'll get lucky every now and then on
YouTube or Instagram and likethe algorithm will pick you up,
but you have to.
You have to be comfortableknowing that, and I talked to
somebody about this the otherday.
A customer I was talking to waslike I had this real go viral.
It got 5 million views and Idon't feel like I got any free
(15:48):
trials from it and I was like Idon't care.
Like that, the fact that yougot those views is progress in
itself, because the goal of acontent like that is not to get
people to convert, like you've.
You've probably heard of a salesfunnel where you have the top
of the funnel, the middle of thefunnel and the bottom of the
funnel.
Top of the funnel, for a lot ofpeople is social media, the
(16:09):
middle of the funnel is like anemail list and then the bottom
is getting people onto a landingpage where they convert to a
sale.
Now, what people who are notlike as entrenched in marketing
as I am uh, what a lot of peopledon't know is that, like there
are actually funnels within yourfunnel and social media itself
is a funnel, and so when you getthat viral reel, that gets
(16:31):
hundreds of thousands, tens ofthat.
Whatever viral is for your um,your social presence, whether
it's a million, a hundredthousand views, whatever.
When you get that viral view,that is the top of your social
funnel.
And you cannot expect a millionpeople to watch a reel and then
take action off of it, becausemost of them it's their first
time ever coming across you oryour brand on social, and so the
(16:55):
goal is for them to be like Ireally like that, or I really
like that person, or what theysaid, or how they react in the
comments or whatever.
I'm going to go to their profileand follow them or just binge
some of their content, and thenthey'll inevitably the algorithm
will then serve them more ofyour content and then they'll
follow you and then they'll keepfalling down the rabbit hole
and then they'll get to yourother content, which is
(17:18):
ultimately then focused oneither providing them value or
pulling them over to yourwebsite for whatever, the next
level of the experience is,whether that's getting on an
email list or converting on somesort of paid offer.
But I think people just forgetthat, like, there are levels and
stages to this journey and, asmuch as you're going to want to
(17:39):
rush it.
You can't, and you force peopleto take specific actions.
All you can do is design anideal journey for your ideal
customer and people willnaturally fall into that and
self-select.
But you have to have thatjourney properly set up.
And again, I run into moretimes than not people do not
have that journey properly setup.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
So what would you say an effective funnel looks like
for a for a video on demandplatform?
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yeah, that's a.
It's a great question.
It's um.
A year ago I would have givenyou a different answer than I'll
give you today, which is itdepends which is the worst
answer to hear from someone likeme.
Um, I can give you like ageneric.
To hear from someone like me, Ican give you like a generic.
(18:26):
You should.
A generic funnel should looklike free content on social
media that leads to gettingpeople's email address.
Ideally, you're exchanging thatemail address for some piece of
something valuable, somethingthat your audience perceives as
valuable, whether it's a PDFnutrition guide or a workout
plan, or like uh, right now I'vebeen downloading couch to 5k
running plans.
(18:47):
Like it's my job.
Uh, because it's easier toprocrastinate running than it is
to actually force myself to gorun.
Um, but like, I exchanged myemail address for those plans
and then those coaches end upemailing me and trying to build
up that relationship and thenthey'll inevitably be like well,
if you just want to run coachto like harass you and tell you
(19:08):
what to do via text or email orwhatever, then I have this offer
for $100 a month or whatever itis, and so that's like a pretty
normal funnel.
So social email address inexchange for a piece of free
content to paid offer.
That's like the simplest, mostgeneric version.
Now I have been working handson with tons of Uscreen
(19:30):
customers for the last sixmonths actually, and these are
customers who are great at theirtheir content, but when it
comes to marketing they're likeI don't want to learn, I have no
idea what to do, I'm afraid ofall the options, and so they're
just stuck in this inertia of Idon't know what to do next, and
so I've been coming alongsidecustomers like that and helping
(19:52):
them build their funnels or fixthem and all those things and
funnels look different fordifferent businesses.
For example, if you have anaudience of 500,000 people or a
million plus, your funnel bynature can look very different
than somebody else's, and thereason for that is the, the
(20:13):
amount, the volume of contentthat is needed for someone like
that to have a platform that bigis necessarily large, like they
have thousands of videos, andso people are able to build
trust with that creator justfrom that free content.
And so, rather than having tohave this long, drawn out
journey, those people can belike hey, I have this paid, this
(20:34):
paid thing, go check it out,and people will convert just
because they have that, theyhave authority, they have um,
they've built some relationalequity, they've been providing
value in the form of all thiscontent.
It's like I still think theyshould go the route of like
email address and even make afree trial or whatever.
I think that's the optimal pathbecause it focuses more on the
(20:57):
customer getting like, theirusers getting value than them,
whereas like, if you just sendthem to a free trial or a paid
offer, it's more about thecreator getting the value and
and I think long-term that'sless effective but it's possible
but on the scale of like theaverage creator, who has
anywhere from 10 to a hundredthousand followers on any given
(21:18):
platform, I think you have tofigure out a little bit more
there.
And so some, some businessesneed a longer funnel where it's
like free content to a paidfreebie or, I'm sorry, free
content to a freebie that youget in exchange for an email
address, to like a one time paidoffer of like five to $50 that
(21:41):
people get value from, and itonly takes them like two to four
weeks to get value from thatand then you try to sell them
into a membership or a higherticket course.
I think that's a very strongfunnel, that, but that one takes
a bit longer for the salesprocess to happen.
So, like some people don't likethat Cause, like I don't want to
have to wait 30 to 45 days forfor our customer to pay yeah, um
(22:05):
, in which case you, I think youcould just like pull out the
one-time purchase thing andinstead add that as like an
off-ramp, because not everyone.
What I mean by an off-ramp islike you send, you get people on
your email list and then youstart trying to sell them about
the membership and after acertain point they've heard
about it, they know the offerexists.
If they didn't buy, you'regoing to be hard pressed to like
(22:28):
twist their arm to get them tobuy.
In which case it's like well,if you don't want this, here's
an off ramp and here's this onetime purchase, and so you can
still get value from them.
They can still get value fromyou, but it's not on the
recurring basis.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah so.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I think that's another version.
Like I said, funnels can lookvery different, but the core is
like free content, email list,paid conversion.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Yeah, hearts to it.
You know, I imagine that thewhat will ultimately or from my
experience at least, whatultimately creates success in
the funnel like that is, um, the, the messaging and the brand
(23:14):
messaging throughout that funnel.
So you're building the reasonwhy, you know, some businesses
get a really high conversion atthe end of the funnel is because
they've got powerful marketingmessaging throughout and they're
building a relationship.
And when you're buildingrelationships online, in my
experience it's a bit morechallenging than building
relationships face-to-face.
(23:35):
It takes a bit more effortgenerally to convey your
personality, to bring people in,to have them trust you, and so
the touch points and themessaging throughout that
customer journey, throughoutthat funnel, is probably I'd say
probably pretty important,right.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
I think people get.
There are like a lot of thingsI think people get wrong, but
like I kind of boil it down tofive things, and the funnel is
definitely one of the biggestones.
The other thing is like peoplethink they know their audience
and they really are just makinga lot of assumptions about them,
which then leads them to thewrong messaging and the wrong
way to sell to that audience.
(24:13):
So I think listening to youraudience is a huge one, and then
messaging, which, in my opinion, takes biggest shape in the
form of calls to action that arenot exciting and are really
boring.
What's more likely to get youto act?
Something that says sign up now, or something that's like
(24:33):
unlock your future.
Whatever it is, one of thosehas more energy than the others.
It seems stupid, it's subtle,but it makes a difference in how
people feel when they'reinteracting with you and your
brand.
So calls to action people arereally bad at selling.
I think this is actually veryprevalent in the fitness world
and in the Pilates and yogaworlds, because what you get is
(24:56):
somebody who started a businessand is like I have this thing
that I do for people, or that Ihelp people with, or that I
provide for them, to help them.
I have this audience.
I should just tell themone-to-one about the thing.
And instead and so what happens?
There is like that would belike if I got on a call with you
(25:18):
or anyone listening to this andwas like I'm going to change
your life, but it's going tocost you $2,000 a month for the
next three months.
What do you think?
Absolutely not, not a chancethat we're going to do that.
And I could be like but wait,let me tell you about all these
(25:40):
features of what it's like towork with me.
You, you get access to a bookthat I wrote and you get access
to DM me on Instagram, likewhatever these silly features
are that you're like I havethese features and they're very
helpful for you, they're stillgonna be like.
No, like that's not the case.
But if I got on a call with youand I said here's the thing.
(26:05):
I've been working in marketingfor 15 years.
I've been working at you screenfor six years.
Prior to you screen, I workedat a membership content business
that did nearly a million inannual revenue, where I was one
of two two full time employeesand there were a few contractors
.
And at you screen.
I've spoken to probablythousands of customers over the
last six years.
I've actually been working withsome hands-on for the last six
(26:28):
months and on average, they'regrowing 20 to 30% as a result of
working with me.
And that includes one customerwho currently has their highest
number of members ever thatthey've had in five years on the
platform because they'reworking with me.
Another one their revenue wentfrom zero when they launched to
over $10,000 in their firstmonth when they were expecting
(26:49):
to get 100 members and they got300 instead as a result of
working together.
Another one just hit theirhighest revenue month ever, and
another.
I could go on and on about these.
The point is I'm'm workinghands on these customers and I
have nearly a decade ofexperience helping people be
successful with their, theirbusinesses, regardless of their
(27:09):
whether they do fitness or yogaor Pilates or dog training or
kids education, it doesn'tmatter.
I have a formula and I I knowexactly what we need to do to
diagnose what's wrong with yourbusiness and get you moving
forward with growth.
Now, based on that, would yoube interested in working with me
for three months?
That's a whole lot different ofan explanation or a sales pitch
(27:33):
and most people just default tobeing like I'm going to list
out features when that's notreally what works and moves
people action of who you are andwhat you've done.
Like how many customers have youworked with over the over your
career in fitness?
What's what did the?
(27:54):
Like tell me about your, yourfavorite success stories that
you've seen from all of thattime, and then tell me about
your experience, like when didyou start doing this?
Uh, why did you start doingthis?
What's your favorite thingabout it?
Like tell people those thingsand the selling part becomes a
whole lot easier, because you'rebasically you're not selling.
(28:14):
You're talking about who youare, what you've done, how you
did it and why that matters.
And that's so much more of acompelling journey than the
other version.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
A hundred percent, absolutely, that's gold right
there.
Thank you so much for sharingthat.
Okay, so I want to switch gearsreally quickly and talk about
what I think is probably thebiggest question that people
want to know the answer to, butprobably never ask, and that is
how much money can you make withan on-demand platform that's
(28:47):
realistic?
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Anything's realistic.
If you believe it sounds like aDisney movie, I'll say this we
have customers across thespectrum.
We have some who make hundredsa month, some who make thousands
, some who make tens ofthousands, some who make
hundreds of thousands and somewho make millions a month, and
(29:11):
they have all shapes and sizesof audience.
If the best place to start islike you, you, if you're going
to do this, having an in-personaudience is great, but you need
to build your online audiencetoo.
Um, and that's kind of like aninevitable.
I've seen, out of the tons ofcustomers I've spoken with over
the years and people doing thisdigital business thing, I've
(29:33):
only run into a handful thatdon't, that are successful, that
do not have an online audienceof some sort, and they've built
up other mechanisms, like I metsomebody who went all in on SEO
years ago and it's paid off, andshe was like I wanted to build
the business, but I did not wantto do social media and so I
went this route, that is.
I've literally seen that onetime.
(29:56):
Of thousands and thousands, soI'm not saying go go in on SEO,
cause now is not the time to gointo SEO with all the turmoil of
AI and cannibalizing search andall those things.
But all that to say like, ifyou don't have an online digital
audience, you need to bebuilding one.
So I would say you need atleast 15,000.
That that's like comfortable.
I'm working with a customer whowas there not long ago and
(30:19):
she's doing great like making afull time income from her
audience with less than 20,000followers on Instagram.
So it's doable at that point.
So that that's like my numberone recommendation is do that
and if you, if you have at leastthat audience, I think it's
feasible to build a high fivefigure revenue business, digital
(30:43):
business, and that's just fromthe video monetization platform.
That's not counting like atthat stage.
You can probably go getsponsorships of some like.
If you want to do sponsorshipson Instagram, or if you have a
YouTube channel and you want todo ad reads, uh, that's not
accounting affiliate revenue,which is a big thing for a lot,
of, a lot of people on Instagram.
It's not counting ad revenue Ifyou do YouTube or something
(31:05):
like that, so, like it, it couldbe the main income source, but
it's not the only one.
And then some of these peopleare still doing in-person studio
classes as well.
I'm helping three customersright now who all teach in
person and they're starting thedigital platform.
They have their audience ready,they're they're locked in and
excited to go, but I thinkthat's kind of a prerequisite.
(31:27):
So I think if you have at leastthat audience, you can make a
healthy income like high fivefigures, maybe even into six
figures or multiple six figuresa year.
As a last example, I know of acustomer who, when the pandemic
kicked off, started going liveon Instagram like every day, I
think and quickly her audienceskyrocketed to like 17 or 20,000
(31:52):
people.
Um, that audience is now up tolike 30,000 people on Instagram.
So still not like a massiveaudience, but they are so
dedicated and in love with herHer audience cannot get enough
of her that she's making likehigh five figures a month from
an audience that's not like by.
(32:13):
We have people who haveaudiences of millions who don't
even make that that amount ofmoney, so like it's all kind of
a spectrum and it's all relative.
So the the more engagement andthis is the last thing I'll say
on this the more engagement andloyalty that you can cultivate
on your free platforms, thebetter off your business is
(32:33):
going to be.
If you're not focusing ondriving engagement from those
followers, it's going to bereally hard, because I've people
who have 100,000 followers onInstagram but their engagement
is so low that they'restruggling to get that to
convert to meaningful revenuefor their business.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Engage, engage, engage.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Yeah, and that means you have to show up and be
consistent.
You know, the last kind of mythI want to bust here is that you
don't have to.
This is like some, you know,people still say oh, passive
income, no, no, there's nothingpassive about this.
You have to show up and beactive, engaged and cultivate,
like you said, cultivate thatrelationship with the clients.
Yeah for sure.
This was such a goldmine ofinsights and information.
(33:19):
Daniel, Thank you so much forcoming on and sharing.
Do you want to just let us knowwhere people can find out a bit
more about YouScreen, or tellus a little bit about what's
possible with YouScreen today?
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah, so you can find us.
You screentv um.
It's the letter u s c r e e n,not like y o u uh.
And then you can find me onyoutube, on you screens channel,
where I put out, uh, at least avideo a week and have for six
years on that channel, and thatthose are probably the best
places to learn more about us.
I could go on and on about theplatform forever Because I use
it daily.
I'm working on our customersplatforms daily to help them.
(34:03):
So I could talk about itforever, but I won't bore you
with that.
I'll let you kind of explore it.
You're on your own.
Check out the content onYouTube and I think that that'll
be a great step for you withthat.
I'll let you kind of explore iton your own.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Check out the content on YouTube, and I think that
that'll be a great step for you.
Fantastic.
Well, I'm going to link to allof that in the show notes as
well, so you guys can just clickdown below wherever you're
listening to this.
Thanks again, daniel.
It was fantastic to have youhere.
I really appreciate you joiningus.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
So I hope this is really helpful to you as you go
about building your boutiquefitness business, whether it's
online or in studio.
And if you enjoyed what youheard today, I'd be so
appreciative if you could take aquick minute, go to wherever
you're listening to this andrate and review this podcast.
It would mean a ton to me andwould help to get this out into
our amazing community ofboutique fitness studio owners.
Community of boutique fitnessstudio owners.
(34:53):
Did you love this episode andwant more?
Head to spring3.com and checkout my free resources that will
help you run a profitable andfulfilling studio business.
And before you go, one lastreminder there is no one way to
do what you do, only your way.
So, whatever it is that youwant to do, create or offer,
(35:17):
you've got this.
Thanks again for joining metoday and have a wonderful rest
of your day.
This episode is for every studio owner who's toyed
with the idea of launching avideo on-demand platform but
maybe got stuck in the how do Ieven start phase.
Today, I'm sitting down withDaniel from YouScreen.
He's worked with thousands ofcreators, including boutique
fitness pros just like you,who've turned their content into
(00:21):
consistent monthly income, andtoday he's pulling back the
curtains on what is actuallyworking in 2025.
We're talking revenueexpectations, common funnel
mistakes and the leanest way tolaunch without pro equipment or
an enormous team.
So if you're wanting yourstudio to scale beyond the four
(00:42):
walls, it starts here.
Let's dive in.
Well, hi there, I'm SarenGlanfield.
I'm a business and marketingstrategist just for boutique
fitness studio owners like you.
If you're ready to be inspiredand make a bigger impact, you're
in the right place.
All you need are a few keystrategies, the right mindset
(01:04):
and some support along the way.
Join me as I share thereal-life insights that will
help you grow a sustainable andprofitable studio.
This is the Pilates BusinessPodcast.
Hey there, and welcome back tothe show.
I'm your host, saren Glanfield,and today we're talking about
(01:27):
something that often comes upamongst the studio owners that I
work with, and that is how toactually make money with
on-demand video.
I know that for those of youwho taught through COVID, you
are very familiar with this,perhaps a little more familiar
than you ever wished you hadbeen, but the reality is that
(01:48):
video on demand is actually avery powerful way to scale
revenue for your studio business, but only when it's done right,
and that's why I'm thrilled tobring on Daniel from Uscreen
today.
Daniel's been in the marketinggame for over 15 years.
He's worked with nonprofits,small businesses, even Fortune
(02:10):
300 companies, but what reallysets him apart is his
data-driven approach to helpingfitness creators build video
membership platforms that reallywork.
So he's seen it all, from folkslaunching with a zero audience
and still turning a profit tobusinesses sitting on a goldmine
of content that just need theright funnel to explode.
(02:31):
So welcome Daniel.
I'm so glad you're here.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
So let's kick off and perhaps talk a little bit about
what the video on demand worldlooks like in 2025.
The growth we've seen obviouslywe saw COVID come and go and
that switch moved us a lotonline and can you tell us a
little bit about what you'veseen, obviously since you've
been at Uscreen?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
So I've been at Uscreen since August of 2019,
when the world looked a littlebit different than it does today
, but even then there was this.
The reason I joined the companywas because I saw what the
platform was back then.
It was like, oh, this.
It just clicked instantly oflike this is how somebody can go
and create their own version ofNetflix.
(03:19):
And at the time we didn't havea community feature, we didn't
have calendar Like, we didn'thave all these robust features
that we have now.
But it was like, hey, you canget your own Netflix catalog,
you can get your own app thathas that built into it.
It's seamless, it's so easy touse.
And I was like, if they're herenow, wow, this could be
somewhere else completelydifferent in a couple of years.
(03:39):
And then, six months into mytime at U-Screen, covid hit, the
world, shut down and everyoneovernight was like we need your
platform.
So I remember hearing from oursales team that, like, our
inbound leads overnight wentfrom like hundreds a month to
thousands a month, and so it wasa very wild time in the fitness
(04:01):
world was having to navigate,uh navigate, having shut down
studios and like crap, how do weget our content in front of our
customers so that they don'tpull their money from us and we
don't have to shut down and gofigure out something entirely
different.
Um, and so we helped tons ofstudios navigate that.
Tons of fitness creators, um,some who just happened to like
(04:24):
launch in February of 2020.
And then their businessexploded the next month because
everyone needed their workoutsall of a sudden.
So we've we've seen quite thetransformation, and then we've
even we've obviously seen theshift back post COVID of like
all those studios who wentonline, who took on this big.
What they thought was like, hey, we're going to do this online
(04:46):
thing to like weather the storm.
Some of those studios were like, oh, actually, we just realized
we unlocked an entirely newrevenue stream for the business,
because now, instead of justbeing beholden to the people
within our 10 mile radius of ourstudio, like we're reaching
people on a different continentwho are consuming and loving our
content, and so we've helpedpeople navigate that, whereas
(05:08):
others were like this is theheaviest burden I've ever had to
bear, like running this and mystudio and like trying to
maintain a normal life is justoverwhelming because it's just
me, or it's me and one otherperson or small team and it's
just too much and then we don'tfeel like it's worth it and so
those went back to just thestudio model.
(05:28):
So, like we've seen kind ofthis, the full spectrum of
experiences, and in 2025, likeit's, it's so interesting to see
how far not only our producthas come, but like the education
of um, our, our users or ourcustomers at Uscreen, which is
like we I used to go to, we hadthis conference we would go to
(05:50):
every year and in 2021, I went.
That was like the firstgathering post COVID, even
though we, I think we still hadto take COVID tests to get into
the conference.
But we, I got there and peoplewould come up to our table and
be like what's's you screen?
And it would take like a fewparagraphs of description from
me for people to understand whatwe did, how, how it worked and
(06:12):
all those things.
Now, when I go to a conferencelike I'm in next week I'll be in
New York with a number of ourcustomers just spending time
together.
But even if I walk up tosomebody on the street or, you
know, run into somebody at aconference and they're like, oh,
what's Uscreen?
I'm like, oh, we're a videomonetization platform where
people can sell membership, theycan sell courses, they years,
in that it doesn't take as longfor people to understand what we
(06:33):
do and how we do it, and sothat's beneficial for us in that
(06:55):
the sales cycle doesn't take 10months.
It takes 30 days now becausepeople just get it.
Because people just get it andbecause they're able to get that
faster, it also helps themreasonably like be their
timeline to success is shorterbecause they're not having to
like wrap their mind around thismodel that they don't really
understand or whatever it is.
(07:16):
So that's that's kind of wherewe sit these days.
And like you're you're going tohear I've been hearing since
2012, like YouTube, youtube issaturated.
Or this industry is saturated.
There's like it's 2025.
People are still saying thatand it's still not true.
And the same goes for like ourindustry.
Like it is it more mature?
Yes, is it saturated?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
no, no, yeah, no, and I think that's it's worth sort
of just you know, know, talkinga little about that, because I
do think that is a commonmisconception that there is.
You know, it's been done before.
So therefore, you know, someoneelse is doing a online Pilates
thing, probably not the placethat I should spend my time, but
(07:57):
that and that's not how I wouldapproach it necessarily, but I
but, like you said, it is, it'sa different market today, so
let's talk a little bit aboutwhat does it really take in 2025
to start a video on demandplatform and to be successful.
Can you dive into a little bitof the details?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
If you are fitness, pilates, yoga, instructor, any
of those things and you haveeither run your own studio or
you've taught classes and maybeyou've taught classes at a
specific gym or you've been oneof those instructors who runs
from studio to studio all overthe city to teach classes all
(08:42):
day.
If you've done that, you havewhat it takes to make something
work online too.
And because what it takes isjust a relentless pursuit of,
like, showing up and figuring itout as you go, and I think a
lot of people have thismisconception that, like, when
it comes to building an onlinebusiness, it's the dream is
(09:04):
you're sitting on the beach andyou're just getting
notifications and, yeah, like, acash registers is going off
nonstop.
Can can that happen?
Absolutely, we see it happenall the time.
Is that normal?
Depends on the person, dependson the business, but, like,
ultimately, you're starting abusiness Like you're.
Are you a creator?
(09:24):
Sure, I actually don't likereferring to our customers as
creators because I think itundersells what, what they do.
I think you're, they'reactually all entrepreneurs, and
I think most of them don'tactually think of themselves as
entrepreneurs.
They're just like.
I'm just trying to figure thisout and I'm like, well, you need
to make the mindset shift ofyou are an entrepreneur because
it's going to make the mindsetshift of you are an entrepreneur
(09:44):
because it's going to make thehardships easier.
And I know that's that seemscontradictory in nature.
But, like so many of the peopleI talked to are like this is
just so hard and I wasn'texpecting it to be so hard.
And I was like and I asked themlike you started a business and
you didn't think it was goingto be hard.
That's what starting a businessis and, in fact, starting a
(10:05):
business even successfulbusinesses are more, while
they're defined by theirsuccesses.
If you look at the track record,the fail rate is like or not
the fail rate, but like thenumber of things you get wrong
and fail at while doing thebusiness is like 70 to 80%,
probably maybe even higher.
Like it's kind of like abaseball batting average.
(10:27):
If you get up to the plate andyou hit the ball once out of
every three times you're at theplate, you're one of the best
hitters in the league.
It's the same thing withentrepreneurship.
If you can get up and make itnot even a home run, just a base
hit, one of every threeexperiments you're doing, doing
great and so I think people justcome in not expecting that and
(10:49):
so make making sure people orentrepreneurs are able to make
like come to terms with thatearly in the journey I think is
like one of the biggest things.
I try to communicate withcustomers because I I'll talk to
customers who are all over kindof the lifespan of their
business, but I know that if Ican get in early and have like
very honest conversations withthem about what it's going to
(11:11):
look like, the likelihood thatthey'll be discouraged declines
significantly because, they'relike this is just a part of the
journey.
So I think it takes a very, verystrong will and mindset, like
if you've, if you're and ifyou're in the fitness world and
you're able to force yourself toget up out of bed and work your
(11:33):
butt off for hours a day,sweating whatever, in addition
to everything else you're doing,like you can do.
This, too, is the very is.
Is what I'll say about that Interms of like other things, like
the more practical side ofthings.
That's more of the very is.
Is what I'll say about that interms of like other things, like
the more practical side ofthings.
That's more of the mindset,psychological thing.
But in terms of more practical,you don't need, like you don't
have to go out and watch ahundred YouTube videos about the
(11:55):
best camera in or the bestmicrophone or the best lights.
The best camera you have you'vegot is the one that you have.
Like, this is perfectly fine.
We have tons of customers whohave only ever used their phones
for their business, and that'sfine.
Should you upgrade at somepoint?
Like if, yeah, you should makeit a priority to improve your
(12:15):
production, but when you'regetting started, there's nothing
wrong with using your phone,and there are microphones you
can get that will attach to yourphone, because I think,
honestly, if, if you're going toinvest in something right out
of the gate, it should be audio.
If you don't have clear audioin 2025, people don't like that,
like, they're not veryforgiving, and lighting don't
(12:35):
like, don't worry about it, youcan figure it out later.
But the thing I think the otherthing really important to
figure out is who you're for,and some of this speaks to like
brand.
But in this day and age, whenthere are so many fitness
businesses out there, so manydigital fitness presences online
, so many online Pilatesbusinesses, so many online yoga
(12:58):
businesses the thing that, like,you can't just go create a
generic fitness approach anymore.
There has to be somethingunique and it can't.
It can be your personality, itcan be the specific method that
you teach.
Maybe you've come up with thisrevolutionary yoga practice that
no one's ever heard of.
Like, we have some veryinteresting niche approaches to
(13:20):
fitness that you like if I toldyou about them, he's's like I
never would have thought of that.
Um, but those businesses have ahold and people remember them
because it's unique and thatyou've got to figure out what
your unique um, you could callit a value proposition.
You can call it whatever youwant, but like you have to
figure out your unique approachthat is going to draw people to
(13:42):
towards you, because it it's andit's very much like a
personality.
Like there are people who arenaturally will naturally
gravitate towards me because ofmy personality.
There are also people who willnaturally gravitate away from me
or be repelled by thatpersonality, and that's okay.
You have to be comfortable withunderstanding that you're going
to attract some people andyou're going to repel others,
(14:03):
and that's just kind of thenature of life.
And if you can hone in on yourunique approach and what about
your language or your or thatapproach that draws people in
you can then kind of mega shoutthat through a megaphone and let
more people know, and thatthat's the goal is.
Like you're not you can try toreach everybody, but just keep
(14:26):
your message consistent in yourapproach.
And even if you are, let's say,you get a reel that goes viral
and you get a million views,great, it's okay that only 20 of
those people or a hundred ofthose people are going to make
it to your website from thatreel or whatever it is, because
those are the people you wantand those are the people you
need to focus on serving.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yeah, a lot of really great tips in there.
I have to say, and I think oneof the ones that really stands
out is number one yes, you arebuilding a business and that
means you have to have a strongvalue proposition.
You have to know what problemyou're solving and for whom,
right.
And then you need to packagethat into a like a marketing
message and a brand message thatshowcases and conveys and
(15:09):
articulates that value in a waythat's really compelling to the
people that you want to workwith.
And I think you know youcaptured all of that.
It was so and so many.
It's so powerful to hear itfrom you too, because we talk
about this a lot.
You can't just put a video outand expect for it to take off.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I mean, maybe you'll get lucky every now and then on
YouTube or Instagram and likethe algorithm will pick you up,
but you have to.
You have to be comfortableknowing that, and I talked to
somebody about this the otherday.
A customer I was talking to waslike I had this real go viral.
It got 5 million views and Idon't feel like I got any free
(15:48):
trials from it and I was like Idon't care.
Like that, the fact that yougot those views is progress in
itself, because the goal of acontent like that is not to get
people to convert, like you've.
You've probably heard of a salesfunnel where you have the top
of the funnel, the middle of thefunnel and the bottom of the
funnel.
Top of the funnel, for a lot ofpeople is social media, the
(16:09):
middle of the funnel is like anemail list and then the bottom
is getting people onto a landingpage where they convert to a
sale.
Now, what people who are notlike as entrenched in marketing
as I am uh, what a lot of peopledon't know is that, like there
are actually funnels within yourfunnel and social media itself
is a funnel, and so when you getthat viral reel, that gets
(16:31):
hundreds of thousands, tens ofthat.
Whatever viral is for your um,your social presence, whether
it's a million, a hundredthousand views, whatever.
When you get that viral view,that is the top of your social
funnel.
And you cannot expect a millionpeople to watch a reel and then
take action off of it, becausemost of them it's their first
time ever coming across you oryour brand on social, and so the
(16:55):
goal is for them to be like Ireally like that, or I really
like that person, or what theysaid, or how they react in the
comments or whatever.
I'm going to go to their profileand follow them or just binge
some of their content, and thenthey'll inevitably the algorithm
will then serve them more ofyour content and then they'll
follow you and then they'll keepfalling down the rabbit hole
and then they'll get to yourother content, which is
(17:18):
ultimately then focused oneither providing them value or
pulling them over to yourwebsite for whatever, the next
level of the experience is,whether that's getting on an
email list or converting on somesort of paid offer.
But I think people just forgetthat, like, there are levels and
stages to this journey and, asmuch as you're going to want to
(17:39):
rush it.
You can't, and you force peopleto take specific actions.
All you can do is design anideal journey for your ideal
customer and people willnaturally fall into that and
self-select.
But you have to have thatjourney properly set up.
And again, I run into moretimes than not people do not
have that journey properly setup.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
So what would you say an effective funnel looks like
for a for a video on demandplatform?
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yeah, that's a.
It's a great question.
It's um.
A year ago I would have givenyou a different answer than I'll
give you today, which is itdepends which is the worst
answer to hear from someone likeme.
Um, I can give you like ageneric.
To hear from someone like me, Ican give you like a generic.
(18:26):
You should.
A generic funnel should looklike free content on social
media that leads to gettingpeople's email address.
Ideally, you're exchanging thatemail address for some piece of
something valuable, somethingthat your audience perceives as
valuable, whether it's a PDFnutrition guide or a workout
plan, or like uh, right now I'vebeen downloading couch to 5k
running plans.
(18:47):
Like it's my job.
Uh, because it's easier toprocrastinate running than it is
to actually force myself to gorun.
Um, but like, I exchanged myemail address for those plans
and then those coaches end upemailing me and trying to build
up that relationship and thenthey'll inevitably be like well,
if you just want to run coachto like harass you and tell you
(19:08):
what to do via text or email orwhatever, then I have this offer
for $100 a month or whatever itis, and so that's like a pretty
normal funnel.
So social email address inexchange for a piece of free
content to paid offer.
That's like the simplest, mostgeneric version.
Now I have been working handson with tons of Uscreen
(19:30):
customers for the last sixmonths actually, and these are
customers who are great at theirtheir content, but when it
comes to marketing they're likeI don't want to learn, I have no
idea what to do, I'm afraid ofall the options, and so they're
just stuck in this inertia of Idon't know what to do next, and
so I've been coming alongsidecustomers like that and helping
(19:52):
them build their funnels or fixthem and all those things and
funnels look different fordifferent businesses.
For example, if you have anaudience of 500,000 people or a
million plus, your funnel bynature can look very different
than somebody else's, and thereason for that is the, the
(20:13):
amount, the volume of contentthat is needed for someone like
that to have a platform that bigis necessarily large, like they
have thousands of videos, andso people are able to build
trust with that creator justfrom that free content.
And so, rather than having tohave this long, drawn out
journey, those people can belike hey, I have this paid, this
(20:34):
paid thing, go check it out,and people will convert just
because they have that, theyhave authority, they have um,
they've built some relationalequity, they've been providing
value in the form of all thiscontent.
It's like I still think theyshould go the route of like
email address and even make afree trial or whatever.
I think that's the optimal pathbecause it focuses more on the
(20:57):
customer getting like, theirusers getting value than them,
whereas like, if you just sendthem to a free trial or a paid
offer, it's more about thecreator getting the value and
and I think long-term that'sless effective but it's possible
but on the scale of like theaverage creator, who has
anywhere from 10 to a hundredthousand followers on any given
(21:18):
platform, I think you have tofigure out a little bit more
there.
And so some, some businessesneed a longer funnel where it's
like free content to a paidfreebie or, I'm sorry, free
content to a freebie that youget in exchange for an email
address, to like a one time paidoffer of like five to $50 that
(21:41):
people get value from, and itonly takes them like two to four
weeks to get value from thatand then you try to sell them
into a membership or a higherticket course.
I think that's a very strongfunnel, that, but that one takes
a bit longer for the salesprocess to happen.
So, like some people don't likethat Cause, like I don't want to
have to wait 30 to 45 days forfor our customer to pay yeah, um
(22:05):
, in which case you, I think youcould just like pull out the
one-time purchase thing andinstead add that as like an
off-ramp, because not everyone.
What I mean by an off-ramp islike you send, you get people on
your email list and then youstart trying to sell them about
the membership and after acertain point they've heard
about it, they know the offerexists.
If they didn't buy, you'regoing to be hard pressed to like
(22:28):
twist their arm to get them tobuy.
In which case it's like well,if you don't want this, here's
an off ramp and here's this onetime purchase, and so you can
still get value from them.
They can still get value fromyou, but it's not on the
recurring basis.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah so.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I think that's another version.
Like I said, funnels can lookvery different, but the core is
like free content, email list,paid conversion.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Yeah, hearts to it.
You know, I imagine that thewhat will ultimately or from my
experience at least, whatultimately creates success in
the funnel like that is, um, the, the messaging and the brand
(23:14):
messaging throughout that funnel.
So you're building the reasonwhy, you know, some businesses
get a really high conversion atthe end of the funnel is because
they've got powerful marketingmessaging throughout and they're
building a relationship.
And when you're buildingrelationships online, in my
experience it's a bit morechallenging than building
relationships face-to-face.
(23:35):
It takes a bit more effortgenerally to convey your
personality, to bring people in,to have them trust you, and so
the touch points and themessaging throughout that
customer journey, throughoutthat funnel, is probably I'd say
probably pretty important,right.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
I think people get.
There are like a lot of thingsI think people get wrong, but
like I kind of boil it down tofive things, and the funnel is
definitely one of the biggestones.
The other thing is like peoplethink they know their audience
and they really are just makinga lot of assumptions about them,
which then leads them to thewrong messaging and the wrong
way to sell to that audience.
(24:13):
So I think listening to youraudience is a huge one, and then
messaging, which, in my opinion, takes biggest shape in the
form of calls to action that arenot exciting and are really
boring.
What's more likely to get youto act?
Something that says sign up now, or something that's like
(24:33):
unlock your future.
Whatever it is, one of thosehas more energy than the others.
It seems stupid, it's subtle,but it makes a difference in how
people feel when they'reinteracting with you and your
brand.
So calls to action people arereally bad at selling.
I think this is actually veryprevalent in the fitness world
and in the Pilates and yogaworlds, because what you get is
(24:56):
somebody who started a businessand is like I have this thing
that I do for people, or that Ihelp people with, or that I
provide for them, to help them.
I have this audience.
I should just tell themone-to-one about the thing.
And instead and so what happens?
There is like that would belike if I got on a call with you
(25:18):
or anyone listening to this andwas like I'm going to change
your life, but it's going tocost you $2,000 a month for the
next three months.
What do you think?
Absolutely not, not a chancethat we're going to do that.
And I could be like but wait,let me tell you about all these
(25:40):
features of what it's like towork with me.
You, you get access to a bookthat I wrote and you get access
to DM me on Instagram, likewhatever these silly features
are that you're like I havethese features and they're very
helpful for you, they're stillgonna be like.
No, like that's not the case.
But if I got on a call with youand I said here's the thing.
(26:05):
I've been working in marketingfor 15 years.
I've been working at you screenfor six years.
Prior to you screen, I workedat a membership content business
that did nearly a million inannual revenue, where I was one
of two two full time employeesand there were a few contractors
.
And at you screen.
I've spoken to probablythousands of customers over the
last six years.
I've actually been working withsome hands-on for the last six
(26:28):
months and on average, they'regrowing 20 to 30% as a result of
working with me.
And that includes one customerwho currently has their highest
number of members ever thatthey've had in five years on the
platform because they'reworking with me.
Another one their revenue wentfrom zero when they launched to
over $10,000 in their firstmonth when they were expecting
(26:49):
to get 100 members and they got300 instead as a result of
working together.
Another one just hit theirhighest revenue month ever, and
another.
I could go on and on about these.
The point is I'm'm workinghands on these customers and I
have nearly a decade ofexperience helping people be
successful with their, theirbusinesses, regardless of their
(27:09):
whether they do fitness or yogaor Pilates or dog training or
kids education, it doesn'tmatter.
I have a formula and I I knowexactly what we need to do to
diagnose what's wrong with yourbusiness and get you moving
forward with growth.
Now, based on that, would yoube interested in working with me
for three months?
That's a whole lot different ofan explanation or a sales pitch
(27:33):
and most people just default tobeing like I'm going to list
out features when that's notreally what works and moves
people action of who you are andwhat you've done.
Like how many customers have youworked with over the over your
career in fitness?
What's what did the?
(27:54):
Like tell me about your, yourfavorite success stories that
you've seen from all of thattime, and then tell me about
your experience, like when didyou start doing this?
Uh, why did you start doingthis?
What's your favorite thingabout it?
Like tell people those thingsand the selling part becomes a
whole lot easier, because you'rebasically you're not selling.
(28:14):
You're talking about who youare, what you've done, how you
did it and why that matters.
And that's so much more of acompelling journey than the
other version.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
A hundred percent, absolutely, that's gold right
there.
Thank you so much for sharingthat.
Okay, so I want to switch gearsreally quickly and talk about
what I think is probably thebiggest question that people
want to know the answer to, butprobably never ask, and that is
how much money can you make withan on-demand platform that's
(28:47):
realistic?
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Anything's realistic.
If you believe it sounds like aDisney movie, I'll say this we
have customers across thespectrum.
We have some who make hundredsa month, some who make thousands
, some who make tens ofthousands, some who make
hundreds of thousands and somewho make millions a month, and
(29:11):
they have all shapes and sizesof audience.
If the best place to start islike you, you, if you're going
to do this, having an in-personaudience is great, but you need
to build your online audiencetoo.
Um, and that's kind of like aninevitable.
I've seen, out of the tons ofcustomers I've spoken with over
the years and people doing thisdigital business thing, I've
(29:33):
only run into a handful thatdon't, that are successful, that
do not have an online audienceof some sort, and they've built
up other mechanisms, like I metsomebody who went all in on SEO
years ago and it's paid off, andshe was like I wanted to build
the business, but I did not wantto do social media and so I
went this route, that is.
I've literally seen that onetime.
(29:56):
Of thousands and thousands, soI'm not saying go go in on SEO,
cause now is not the time to gointo SEO with all the turmoil of
AI and cannibalizing search andall those things.
But all that to say like, ifyou don't have an online digital
audience, you need to bebuilding one.
So I would say you need atleast 15,000.
That that's like comfortable.
I'm working with a customer whowas there not long ago and
(30:19):
she's doing great like making afull time income from her
audience with less than 20,000followers on Instagram.
So it's doable at that point.
So that that's like my numberone recommendation is do that
and if you, if you have at leastthat audience, I think it's
feasible to build a high fivefigure revenue business, digital
(30:43):
business, and that's just fromthe video monetization platform.
That's not counting like atthat stage.
You can probably go getsponsorships of some like.
If you want to do sponsorshipson Instagram, or if you have a
YouTube channel and you want todo ad reads, uh, that's not
accounting affiliate revenue,which is a big thing for a lot,
of, a lot of people on Instagram.
It's not counting ad revenue Ifyou do YouTube or something
(31:05):
like that, so, like it, it couldbe the main income source, but
it's not the only one.
And then some of these peopleare still doing in-person studio
classes as well.
I'm helping three customersright now who all teach in
person and they're starting thedigital platform.
They have their audience ready,they're they're locked in and
excited to go, but I thinkthat's kind of a prerequisite.
(31:27):
So I think if you have at leastthat audience, you can make a
healthy income like high fivefigures, maybe even into six
figures or multiple six figuresa year.
As a last example, I know of acustomer who, when the pandemic
kicked off, started going liveon Instagram like every day, I
think and quickly her audienceskyrocketed to like 17 or 20,000
(31:52):
people.
Um, that audience is now up tolike 30,000 people on Instagram.
So still not like a massiveaudience, but they are so
dedicated and in love with herHer audience cannot get enough
of her that she's making likehigh five figures a month from
an audience that's not like by.
(32:13):
We have people who haveaudiences of millions who don't
even make that that amount ofmoney, so like it's all kind of
a spectrum and it's all relative.
So the the more engagement andthis is the last thing I'll say
on this the more engagement andloyalty that you can cultivate
on your free platforms, thebetter off your business is
(32:33):
going to be.
If you're not focusing ondriving engagement from those
followers, it's going to bereally hard, because I've people
who have 100,000 followers onInstagram but their engagement
is so low that they'restruggling to get that to
convert to meaningful revenuefor their business.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Engage, engage, engage.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Yeah, and that means you have to show up and be
consistent.
You know, the last kind of mythI want to bust here is that you
don't have to.
This is like some, you know,people still say oh, passive
income, no, no, there's nothingpassive about this.
You have to show up and beactive, engaged and cultivate,
like you said, cultivate thatrelationship with the clients.
Yeah for sure.
This was such a goldmine ofinsights and information.
(33:19):
Daniel, Thank you so much forcoming on and sharing.
Do you want to just let us knowwhere people can find out a bit
more about YouScreen, or tellus a little bit about what's
possible with YouScreen today?
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah, so you can find us.
You screentv um.
It's the letter u s c r e e n,not like y o u uh.
And then you can find me onyoutube, on you screens channel,
where I put out, uh, at least avideo a week and have for six
years on that channel, and thatthose are probably the best
places to learn more about us.
I could go on and on about theplatform forever Because I use
it daily.
I'm working on our customersplatforms daily to help them.
(34:03):
So I could talk about itforever, but I won't bore you
with that.
I'll let you kind of explore it.
You're on your own.
Check out the content onYouTube and I think that that'll
be a great step for you withthat.
I'll let you kind of explore iton your own.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Check out the content on YouTube, and I think that
that'll be a great step for you.
Fantastic.
Well, I'm going to link to allof that in the show notes as
well, so you guys can just clickdown below wherever you're
listening to this.
Thanks again, daniel.
It was fantastic to have youhere.
I really appreciate you joiningus.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
So I hope this is really helpful to you as you go
about building your boutiquefitness business, whether it's
online or in studio.
And if you enjoyed what youheard today, I'd be so
appreciative if you could take aquick minute, go to wherever
you're listening to this andrate and review this podcast.
It would mean a ton to me andwould help to get this out into
our amazing community ofboutique fitness studio owners.
Community of boutique fitnessstudio owners.
(34:53):
Did you love this episode andwant more?
Head to spring3.com and checkout my free resources that will
help you run a profitable andfulfilling studio business.
And before you go, one lastreminder there is no one way to
do what you do, only your way.
So, whatever it is that youwant to do, create or offer,
(35:17):
you've got this.
Thanks again for joining metoday and have a wonderful rest
of your day.
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