Last summer I was selected to be a beta tester for a new course that Ramit Sethi is launching at IWT. The course is called "Zero to Launch" and it is all about how to start your own online business from absolute scratch. I learned a lot and it was a really intense experience. I made a ton of mistakes. In this post I want to give my review of the ZTL course. (Five word review: awesome, but not for everyone).
.
Before I even start, I want to make one thing perfectly clear. This is not an advertisement. Nobody is paying me to post this or to write it. If you feel like I am trying to sell you into this course, or if it feels scammy or scummy, then just close this browser tab and move on.
Let me repeat that. If you feel like I am trying to get you to buy into Zero to Launch, and you start feeling a little creepy, like this is a sales pitch or something, I want you to stop reading, close this browser window and DON'T SIGN UP FOR THE COURSE. This is not an ad, I am not trying to sell you anything. Please read the full disclosure at the bottom of the page as well.
If you have ever thought of starting an online business, you probably fall into one or two camps:
1. You know exactly what you want to do, what service you want to provide, and how you want to make and market your products.
2. You love the idea of having your own business, but you really aren't clear on how to start one or how to make it successful.
If you are in camp #1 then ZTL may or may not the right course for you. If you already have very strong ideas about what you want your online business to look like, then you are operating at a serious disadvantage. The very first lesson in ZTL is about how to find and pick the right idea for your business. And then, how to refine it, and get it exactly right. Expect to spend several days just exploring the ramifications of your idea, what is good about it, what is terrible about it, what are all of the things you NEVER thought of in a million years, yet will completely sink you before you even start.
If you have a very rigid idea of what you want your online business to be.... well, wait. Before I even get into that, for one thing, your idea is probably very dumb. ZTL is not some magic fairy dust you can sprinkle on a crummy idea and make it successful. Let me repeat that and make it really clear: if you think this course will let you take any idea you have and turn it into a successful online business, then you have it all wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are a TON of online business ideas out there that are terrible and will never make a dime.
Conversely, if you are flexible about your idea, or if you aren't even sure exactly what your idea should be, then that is a very good place to start from.
Hey, what if you already have an online information product business that is doing okay, but just not doing as well as you would like? In that case I would say you should seriously look ZTL. I mean, you might be one or two small tweaks away from massive success. After all, you are getting people to pay you money. That is a huge first step! I've seen some of the other students in the course go from being dead in the water to skyrocketing after making just a few critical messaging tweaks.
Next, let's talk about motivation. Why do you want to start an online business?
Let me put it this way. Zero to Launch is extremely focused on creating a successful online business. Successful, to Ramit, means you are making a lot of money. I think if you come into this course ready to work, and ready to pay attention, and ready to follow the ZTL system, then I think you will probably make quite a bit of money, hand over fist. But if you are motivated to create an online business for some other reason, like, you just want a nice hobby, and money is not a primary consideration for you, then ZTL probably isn't right for you.
Also, this is very important: this course is not for you if you want to start up your own electronic kit biz, or any other type of e-commerce site dealing with physical goods. What you need to do to create a successful kit biz is different than what you need to do for a successful business selling online courses, there's no way around that.
Overall, my experience with the course was great. I learned quite a bit, yes, but even more importantly, I learned what not to do. Seriously, I've saved myself MONTHS of effort and THOUSANDS of dollars by NOT wasting my time on a bunch of nonsense.
Sadly, I had to pull back from the beta test due to some health related issues in my family. So I don't have any amazing stories of awesome success with happy customers paying me a hefty income stream.
But if you want to see a successful case study, check out my friend James. I helped him create his videos with some technical advice and a little encouragement. (And he got me interested in Organic Chemistry! I call that a win-win!)
Here's the bottom line. Ramit gives away a lot of his material for free. Here, check out this post Ramit made about how to come up with a good online business idea. Check out the main Zero To Launch website. Read the case studies. Watch the videos. Go to the Youtube channel and check out the ZTL videos Ramit has posted. You can get a very good sense of what the course is all about just from what Ramit puts out there, for free. USE YOUR HEAD. Take notes and think about how you can apply anything you've learned to your own situation. Don't just watch it, put some work into it!
Once you have your notes, and you've given it all some good thought, and you put some work into it, ask yourself: how critical is it for me to learn more? When you know that, you'll know if this course is right for you.
[Full disclosure: although I was not paid for beta testing his course or writing this review, as a part of the whole beta testing process I received all of the material for free, and I am getting free access to the final version of the course.]