Notes from Chris

Episode 982

Bill Simpson believes it’s impossible to be unhappy tap dancing. He also believes that everyone secretly wants to learn how to do it. This opinion comes from personal experience: he’s dedicated his life to mastering the art of tap.

Bill’s captivation led him to serious study. Slowly but surely, he began to master the art form. Over the course of the next decade, he became a bonafide tap dancing star in his own right. Eventually, he became one of the most well-respected tap dancers in Australia! He choreographed shows, performed in musicals, and learned from masters all over the world.

In short, tap dancing was Bill's life. Beyond performing, teaching tap became his full-time job and main source of income into his late twenties. He enjoyed it, but it had one big, built-in problem. He was only one person, and one person can only teach so much—even when that person can tap dance as fast as he can.

You see, teaching didn’t afford Bill the flexibility he wanted in life. It was an in-person job, and if you weren’t there, you weren’t paid. On top of that, although he loved tap, he’d spent so much of his life dedicated to it that he was feeling the urge to try new things. He wanted to dance to the beat of a different drum. But, with the way his life was set up, it just wasn’t possible.

Bill decided he had to make a change, and that he’d start a side hustle with the goal of creating a full-time income. The answer of what to do was somewhat obvious … he chose to create an online tap dancing course. In this course, he’d cover all the main steps and film in high-res video from different angles. He wanted to make the most definitive course on tap dancing that existed … anywhere.

What helped him shuffle forward was forgetting about the enormity of the task. Instead of trying to make the perfect course for everyone, he focused on making the perfect course for one person. For him, that person was a version of his sixteen-year-old self.

With that character firmly in mind, he powered through and finished. It took six months in total, but he was incredibly proud of it.

To make it accessible to customers, he’d need a website. He got lucky when his preferred domain name, HowToTapDance.com, was available. He registered it straight away, credit card fumbling in his hands the whole time. He installed WordPress and used his own rudimentary skills to modify a premium theme to his liking.

It was April 2016 when he was ready to launch—The JustTap Tap Dancing Course was about to take centre stage. Bill was confident he’d delivered on what he set out to do, providing the best tap dancing course out there.

He’d built an email list from teaching over the years and he used it to kick things off. Roughly 1,000 people were notified via newsletter that the course was ready for purchase. Within the first few days, he’d made $1,500 in sales. He was clicking his heels all the way to the bank!

But sales dwindled fast. With the original source of sales tapped out, Bill decided to turn to YouTube. He edited parts of the course into an eight-minute video tutorial that covered some of the early course material.

In fact, that video is so successful, it’s the main driver of sales to Bill’s website. Which, in the last year has generated $40,000 for him. It’s enough revenue that he’s taken a step back from teaching and now has the time and finances to explore other passions and interests.

Today, Bill is grateful that he didn’t tap off into the sunset. He pushed through his self-doubt, and hot shoe hustled his way to success.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• HowToTapDance.com Tap dance your way over to Bill's website to start tapping. No experience needed!
• Bill's YouTube Video Over 1.2 million views and counting! Check out Bill's How to TAP DANCE - Beginner Tutorial video.

SEE ALSO:

• Adjunct Professor Puts Course on YouTube for $100k Profit: An adjunct community college professor uploads his final course to YouTube, then converts it to a Udemy course. In just sixteen months, he reaches almost 35,000 students and makes over $100,000 in profits.
• Ballroom Dance Enthusiast Triples Side Income with “How-To” Guide: After an initial attempt at baking scones fails to rise, a client services manager combines her passion for ballroom dancing with publishing guides for fellow dance students.
• College Student Generates 50M Views on YouTube, Hires 13 Employees: How one woman has been able to create her own skincare side hustle serving people all over the world after getting her start on YouTube.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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