The $10,000 Breakthrough

Jacob: February was just over 10k, yeah $10.4. I felt really supported, you guys are there, like this is step one, step two, step three. You know I’m working but it’s also nice to have the freedom to sort of do the things that I enjoy as well.

Max: All right. Welcome back, I’m Max Tornow here, I’m here with one of our clients Jacob Evans who does drum coaching and he’s cracked this for $10,000 month, congratulations on that side and I asked him to talk a little bit about his experience with our program, his success story to share that with you so you can get inspired as well and you can see hey, how is this possible to teach an instrument online and make literal five figures a month with that. So, Jacob, appreciate your time, thanks for tuning in. How much exactly did you make last month?

Jacob: February was just over 10k, yeah 10.4, US dollars.

Max: Nice, fantastic man, congrats.

Jacob: Thanks

Max: What city are you?

Jacob: I’m living in London right now but originally from Australia.

Max: Oh man, that’s why I always try to pinpoint your accent, I’m like what. Okay, so that’s fantastic and you’re teaching your clients how to play drums a little bit more effortlessly with more groove. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Jacob: Yeah sure, so I mainly teach sort of more intermediate drummers so drummers that have a little bit more experience but basically, yeah playing with more flow and fluidity and creative freedom around the kit, and just kind of break through to that sort of more advanced level.

Teaching Drums Online Without Meeting Clients

Max: Yeah, and how, here’s the kicker, that’s the best point, how many of your clients have you met in person.

Jacob: Ah, almost none, like most of them online, I do have actually one student here in London, but, yeah, it’s like all of its online which is yeah almost unheard of, especially prior to the pandemic and all that stuff.

Max: Yeah, and that’s really, really amazing, your music teaching niche is one of the niches that profited hugely from the pandemic in the lockdown because every single person that went to music school, go, didn’t, went to see their teacher in person, all of a sudden they’re like, hey, I still have this passion, I still want to learn my instrument, but I can’t meet anybody in person and then all of a sudden, the rise of online coaches, other niches similarly to that or language coaching, as well as fitness coaching, at least in the B to C market that are profiting immensely from this lockdown, which by the way people ask me how long I think is going to last, well 2021 is definitely still gonna be locked down might even be until 2022, so you have an easy year of making, you know, having a very very comfortable and probably after that too, that’s the point too, a lot of these people are waking up to the idea of being taught online and they’re like, this is much more convenient than going you know packing up my instrument and going to my teacher each and every week for each and every lesson. So I think this has been on the rise now and will continue to rise. So if I may ask you, how exactly are you teaching your clients? Like you’re sitting down with your drums with a Skype connection and then a student as well or?

Jacob: Well that’s kind of what’s interesting I think one of the challenges that you mentioned of like moving online with an instrument, you know, something that I was initially certainly concerned about but I actually find like most of the sessions I have with my clients like we’re just talking. And the main reason is I found, because I’m far more concerned with what they’re doing in the practice room sort of in between the sessions and giving them feedback in that respect you know so it’s much less about me sort of like, demonstrating things and of course if I need to, you know, I can do that but it’s mainly, I’d be much more sort of client focused with like, I’m much more interested in what they’re doing and what they’re playing so.

Max: Yeah.

Jacob: Yeah, it’s actually been really simple like just a straight up zoom call like this it’s pretty straightforward.

Max: Love it, that’s cool.

From Cruise Ships To Online Success

Max: And did you teach them before you joined the program or what was your before situation?

Jacob: Yeah, it’s interesting before, so I’ve always been a musician, like straight out of high school and studied music and I was working freelance for years. And I’d always been teaching a little bit you know it’s a bit of a, you know, it’s pretty common like most musicians as well as gigging and working and stuff, you’re also teaching a bit. But before I started with you guys I was actually working on a cruise ship, I was doing a couple of contracts, playing drums on ships, and I remember this because I had the first consultation call with you, I was in Saint Martin in the Caribbean.

Max: Uh-oh.

Jacob: And I was at this like dodgy cafe like on the key, like on my laptop like during the during the call and like, um, and it was mainly because I wanted to stop doing the ship work, you know, it’s kind of a bit of a grind it doesn’t pay all that well you know so my plan was to move to London. And, yeah, I wanted to you know basically set things up right and teach, do some more teaching. So I’d always kind of done it, but obviously working with you guys it was really great because it kind of set me up for what I didn’t know is coming, which is the pandemic so I basically worked ships.

Max: Oh.

Jacob: Came to London, and after being here for about six months then everything just went to hell, and I mean really.

Max: The timing, if I think about it I mean cruise ships are the thing that is gonna be closed now for years.

Jacob: Yeah for sure.

Max: So that was literally perfect timing like you would sit here right now, without an income, without a job, that’s out of your control too, they’re basically like, yeah, cruise ships are done, and this would have just been taken away from you and I never thought about it, but now that you say like such a good time for you to come on board and now you’re chilling here even higher income than before probably and you haven’t it’s safe for like, unless they turn off the internet, you know.

Jacob: Exactly.

Max: Well, I’m happy for you man, I’m happy and did you here’s the thing and this is something that especially in your niche is so prevalent, this whole idea of like what do you charge per hour type of situation, we see this time and time again that people that have an instrument that know that and to teach that they charge per hour, you know that 50 bucks an hour or 100 bucks an hour, you are charging for an end result making literally $10,000 a month. How exactly, was it helpful for you in our pro program to learn about that or did you kind of know about that before?

Charging For Results, Not Hours

Jacob: Yeah, I mean it’s hard to know where to start with, like, what the program did for me but, like, obviously the business side of things like all that, the structure and the pricing and charging for an end result, I think it does two things, and I’ve been thinking about this, like obviously it’s better for the client because you’re committed to delivering a result, you know. And you’re right in my niche and in my industry it’s almost unheard of, like everyone charges hourly, you know.

Max: Yeah.

Jacob: And it took a bit of getting used to, a bit of a mindset shift for me, but what it also did was it made me a much better teacher because suddenly.

Max: Hmm.

Jacob: I’m leveraged to produce this result for someone else, and, I was really blown away. I mean, working with you guys has been great and obviously all the business side of things like the back end and the sales and the marketing all that stuff is fantastic but also like I was really blown away by the actual consultation like the consulting modules of like actually teaching how to teach.

Max: Yeah.

Jacob: Like I mentioned before, I’d be teaching for a long time, but like, it was just like so clear and like identifying people’s bottlenecks and like, delivering that result and I’ve sort of been really blown away by like just how positive an experience all of this is like charging properly, charging for resolve, it’s better for them, it’s better for me.

Max: Yeah.

Jacob: And I have clients that I’ve been working with for over a year, you know like people that like, because they are getting the results you know so that they, they just wanna keep going and they want to keep doing it more you know.

Max: Love it.

Jacob: And it’s just great.

Max: I mean, let’s talk about that too, because we’re like oh yeah okay Jacob Evans is probably one of the best paid drum coaches out there in this, at least in this sub niche, but let’s talk about the client side as well because to be honest, nobody really profits from an hourly session with someone really what someone profits from as a client, as your client is having continuous touchpoints with someone who accompanies them over a longer period of time and like you said so nicely to work towards a specific end result. So, tell us more a little bit about the type of results that you enable your clients to get with that superior form of consulting or coaching for drums.

Jacob: Sure, I think, specifically in my niche, you know, what happens is you know drummers, or musicians just in general that they go through all the beginner stuff right there’s a million things out there of like yeah, like getting started with the drums or whatever and it’s it’s straightforward, but you reach this point you know where it’s kind of like, all right, you’ve done all the beginner stuff, you’ve done all that, and there’s a definite gap between those kind of more intermediate people and like advanced players you know like myself like.

Max: Yeah.

Jacob: I’m a Korean musician and I’ve been playing forever but I think that the key is like communicating to my clients that like there is a path there, you know, it’s really common in my niche that it’s like, oh, like this guy’s really talented or, you know, he was born with drumsticks in his hand and it’s like, it’s just not like that, you know, and so then my job becomes sort of backwards engineering those steps to bring the client to that point. You know.

Max: Hmm.

Jacob: And when it’s sequential like that and it has a structure and it has an order, then it’s really easy for the client to see the progress that they’re making you know.

Max: Yeah.

Jacob: and really moving towards the goal.

Max: I did answer the question?

Jacob: Yeah, that’s right, perfect.

Max: Sorry I was just like.

Jacob: No, I mean, that’s exactly it and I love that you said that. Now, usually what we do is we always ask, do you need a big social media following, yes or no, now in your case, you’ve always scratched the 10k month mark so closely, and that’s why we didn’t have an interview before because I always want to have someone that cracks 10k before I get them on an interview right, but you were always so close over like several months I remember we months ago we already talked about it, man just just a little bit more and you crack the 10k, and obviously you’ve jumped on the Advanced Program before together with us. If we may show you Instagram, I’d love to do the so.

Jacob: Definitely, yeah.

Max: Let me check your Instagram, we’re gonna edit it down below here as well, Jacob Evans, I found you already. Jacob Evans Drums, you right now have 8000 followers, that’s actually pretty good, that’s definitely on the higher end of what most of our five figure clients are getting. Again, you’ve been in the Advanced Program where we teach you how to build a brand, grow the brand, get more engagement, grow organically and also with paid advertising and so on and so forth, what about your YouTube? How many subscribers you have on YouTube?

Jacob: It’s still not, actually it’s like I got a mighty 1000 subscribers, I think I just cracked the 1K mark.

Max: Nice. So yeah, really, really before you get there, Jacobs is an amazing drummer, if you wanna learn drums from a pro, go follow him on Instagram, go send him a DM or check out his channel, highly recommend you. I drummed a little bit as an amateur, like stupid level, you know, I can play ACDC songs, but it’s been that way. And I was looking at your stuff, I was like damn, so good, really inspiring. But anyways, where were you before we started doing the branding? How much did you make on average a month? Do you remember?

Jacob: From the coaching?

Max: Yeah, before you had the brand on YouTube the channel, and so on so forth.

Jacob: I think I mean, I was still doing pretty well, like I was averaging 3, 4, 5k months. Yeah, like the branding thing is really, you know one thing I’ve learned is working with you guys is it’s just, it just doesn’t matter. you know, it’s like before, like I said, when coming from the ships and when I started working with you guys, I really was open to, because I knew I wanted to get business mentoring from someone who was not a musician, I knew that for sure. And what that meant was, I was like totally open to whatever the process was. And from the beginning, you guys were just like, you don’t need Instagram, you don’t need social media or anything like that and I think really understanding that it just comes down to understanding who you’re trying to reach and what the audience is.

Max: Yeah.

Jacob: And then communicating, like being able to communicate, you know, what you can deliver and understanding their problems. And yeah, it’s like, you just don’t need any of that stuff actually.

Max: Love it, yeah. I mean, yeah, I’ve been preaching this for two years now on social media, not necessarily to crack the first 10k with plenty of other client interviews here on this channel, the prove that as well. And then obviously like you said, like we’ve gotten you onboard with the Advanced Program, which means you have you’ve built a little bit of a branding already and that branding itself is highly lucrative, I mean, you’re making more with your 1000 subscriber YouTube channel than some other channels out there with hundreds of 1000s. Now, you’ve mentioned a couple lessons already that you’ve gotten through our through FMB Program, is there any like one biggest lesson that you haven’t mentioned yet, you said? Like, that’s the one key takeaway.

Beyond The Money – Finding Fulfillment And Freedom

Jacob: Yeah, I think like, again, it kind of just continues from the positivity of the whole process, but just really understanding that like, the money, you know, once I started making, what is good money for me, it’s like, you start thinking about the other sort of driving factors and I think that the biggest lesson that I’ve learned is like, when you understand your audience, and like you, you know, you understand how to communicate with them and then how fulfilling it is to actually really help people, the money is just a means to facilitating that more. It’s like.

Max: Yeah.

Jacob: I don’t even really think about that so much anymore. It’s just like, you know, whenever I’m speaking to a prospective client or student, I’m just like, I just get excited about, like, when they’re telling you their problems. and I’m like, dude, like, I know how to fix this for you and.

Max: Love it.

Jacob: So yeah, it’s just been like really fulfilling from that aspect. You know, and having you guys just kind of really, really care about it. Like, really, I felt really supported. And like, just really, like you guys are there like, this is step one, step two, step three, and you just do it, you know, and then it’s overall just like, really, really positive.

Max: That’s wonderful, man. Thanks for the great feedback. I love it. I always love hearing that, you know, that’s totally cool, you know, to be able to be part of this. And, and to also hear that you pour that it’s less about the money. It’s more about pouring the money back into your mission, to help more people to teach drums on such a better level than the traditional way of teaching it and that makes me very, very proud and happy as well. I think we’re gonna slowly wrap things up. Now. I only have one more question. So what is your What is your daily. What is your daily life look like? An average day in Jacob Evans strong coaching my life.

Jacob: Well, I mean, I work for myself so that’s pretty cool. And I you know, sort of get out whenever and no, but you know, it’s it’s a really nice combination of, you know, working on the business working on, kind of. Yeah, like getting more clients and reaching out to people, but also. Yeah, like now I’m working on some branding stuff like shooting videos doing some editing, and it’s a really nice kind of mixed bag of work. That’s, that’s interesting enough to sort of keep me engaged. And then, you know, obviously right now like there’s no gigs happening. So I’m not like playing as much as normal. But one thing that this has really allowed me to do is, you know, I don’t have to do like gigs that I don’t want to do or anything like that. Yeah, it’s good. Like, my my days are pretty, you know, I’m working, but it’s also nice to have the freedom to sort of take a day off or, or, you know, do things that I enjoy as well.

Max: Love it hey, sounds like a really damn fulfilling life to me. And yeah, Jacob, thanks so much. Really, really appreciate that really proud of you next steps, obviously, obviously going to be scaling you to 25k a month, helping you with your first key hires scale to paid advertising, keep pushing the brand, and so on, so forth. Easy peasy from my side, stay on the line real quick. Because if your dear viewer are watching this, and you say hey this inspires me, maybe you have a similar skill or a similar type of niche that you want to be successful in. And you’re a little bit surprised now that it’s even possible to make five figures a month with a skill that you have. And you also want to become successful as an online coach or a consultant or an agency, then go ahead and book a free consulting call with us right now, there’s a link down in the description below, or the link that appears somewhere here right now. You click on that link, it brings it to a page, fill out the application on that page, right and then it takes maybe two minutes to fill that application out. And then you can book the exact date and time where you want us to call you. I’m going to tell you right away on that call. Number one, you’ll be talking to a real person, not some automated bot funnel or whatsoever. And number two we’ll only be talking about implementable steps. All right, this is not going to be some watered-down general information mainstream bs, we will be talking about only things that actually get you results that actually help you monetize your skill. This is the exact call that Jacob here has had that has gotten him started with his own online coaching business. This is the exact call that each and every one of our successful clients has jumped on initially. That’s the very first step for you. So book that free consulting call now. I want to thank you very much for watching and I’ll talk to you soon.