Starting my first company, LearnDash, wasn’t about chasing the million-dollar dream. It was about building something valuable that could transform how people experience online learning. More selfishly, it was about creating a “lifestyle business”.

At that point in my life, I was living in a hotel room four to five days a week as an e-learning consultant. I loved the e-learning industry but loathed being told where to go and when.

In my constant search for an entrepreneurial escape, I found what appeared to be an opportunity in the market: a learning management system built for the ultra-popular WordPress software. Nothing existed, so I found an agency to build the first version (because I didn’t know anything about code). The rest, as they say, is history.

The eight-year journey from startup to sale wasn’t a walk in the park. It was filled with long nights, endless challenges, and constant learning. But every hurdle was a stepping stone, every setback a lesson in disguise.

Hitting the million-dollar sales mark in a single year didn’t happen overnight. Getting there took years of sweat, grit, and relentless persistence. Let’s talk about some of the factors that contributed to that success.

Unwavering Customer Focus

When building LearnDash, I knew that to build something of value, something that users would love and stick to, I had to listen to the people using it. It was all about understanding their needs, their pain points, and what they envisioned a perfect learning platform to be like.

This meant listening to every piece of feedback, every suggestion, and every complaint. Was it hard? Hell yeah, it was.

When someone is laying into your product, it feels personal. I got defensive or, sometimes worse, dismissive. It took time for me to develop a thicker skin. However, eventually, I taught myself to look at the message, not the messenger. Only then did I begin to capitalize on the opportunities being presented.

Customer feedback became the compass guiding product development, shaping customer service, and helping to tailor the product to what the customers truly wanted. Every new feature and every update was crafted with the user in mind (sometimes a specific user), aiming not just to meet but exceed their expectations.

This iterative feedback loop fostered brand loyalty and turned our users into the biggest advocates. When customers feel heard and see their suggestions coming to life, it creates a connection, a sense of trust, and loyalty that no advertising can buy. I never spent a dime on advertising for the first five years. I didn’t need to.

By relentlessly focusing on our customers, we didn’t just create a product; we built a community of loyal users who believed in what we were doing.

Being a Porsche in a World of Fords

Growing up in metro Detroit, I know how deep the Ford loyalty can go! But, I’ve driven a Ford, and I’ve driven a Porsche. There’s an unmistakable difference in the experience.

From the very beginning, my goal was to be the premium choice, the Porsche of the industry. It was not about being just another option but setting a standard. I wanted to be the name people associate with quality and excellence in e-learning solutions on WordPress.

This required more than just a state-of-the-art product. It was about how we communicated our value and how we presented ourselves to the world.

I consistently reinforced the brand’s value proposition, telling people why we were the best choice. It was in the sales copy, the testimonials chosen for the website, the talks that I gave at conferences, the conversations I had in the hallways, the videos I posted on YouTube, the announcement blog posts, and the emails that I sent to both customers and prospective customers alike.

I was obsessed with being not only the best but also being perceived as the best. And it wasn’t just talk. We backed it up with regular updates, showcasing developments that set us apart and sharing case studies highlighting real-world applications of LearnDash. It was about showing, not just telling, our worth.

Meeting the Competitors on Their Turf

The competition was stiff, with some rivals entering the market with more funds and a wider reach. In the early years, this intimidated me. But in the end, I wanted to be right there in their face, competing on their own turf, and showing them we were there to outshine them.

I think this is something that doesn’t happen enough today.

Many entrepreneurs like to say they don’t pay attention to competition. That’s reckless, in my mind. You owe it to your customers to pay attention because they sure as heck are. I didn’t shy away from going head-to-head.

For example, one competitor had a stronghold on YouTube, so I took to YouTube and built a following that dwarfed theirs. Another was big on Facebook Groups, so I rolled up my sleeves and grew a group that was four times larger.

The point was not to avoid confrontation but to embrace it, to show we were unafraid, to show we were the better choice. It was about doing the hard things, the complex features, the ones we didn’t even know how to accomplish at first.

Doing the Hard Things

Due to the brand reputation I created, I knew that settling for mediocrity was never an option if LearnDash was to remain a premium LMS choice. There were features we aimed to develop that seemed hard, nearly impossible, but the focus was unwavering — get it done.

One such example was when we made it possible to share lessons across courses. Ever since the first year, I kept getting this feedback from customers. And for years, I tabled it.

You may not know this, but very few LMS options let you create a lesson once and reuse it across various courses. It’s quite difficult to accomplish from a technical standpoint. Which is weird because this sounds simple, right?

On the surface, it does, but it suddenly becomes a lot more complicated when you consider lessons changing positions across courses. This initiative required a complete overhaul, a total rewrite of the software to introduce unheard-of features at the time.

I decided to form alliances with development agencies to get this done. Why? To move quickly, leverage their expertise and piggyback on their solid reputations.

I made it a point to let our customers know we were working with the best in the business, and this transparency and commitment to excellence did wonders for our reputation and sales. After this significant product overhaul, our sales didn’t just spike — they surged by 22% and stayed there.

The Role of Luck and Timing

In every entrepreneurial journey, there’s an unsaid, often unrecognized factor — luck.

Luck is that unseen force, that uncalled-for blessing, that places you in the right place at the right time. It’s unteachable, unpredictable, and, to some extent, uncontrollable. But it’s undeniably present in every success story, including that of LearnDash.

Entering the e-learning market when we did (2013) was nothing short of serendipitous. It was a period when e-learning was not only growing, it was transforming, evolving, and poised for exponential expansion. It was a time when the market was ripe and ready, full of possibilities for innovation. Its growth exploded in the years that followed, and my company was right there to ride that wave.

Another big part of the success of LearnDash was about growing in tandem with WordPress. As the WordPress realm expanded and carved deeper niches, LearnDash found its rhythm and stride, evolving, adapting, and growing along with it.

When LearnDash started, around 24% of all websites were powered by WordPress. Today, that number is closer to 43%. As you can imagine, this helped quite a bit.

Yes, I was lucky in this regard. Every successful person is lucky on some level. Luck isn’t just about waiting for the stars to align, though. You have to be constantly putting in the work, persisting through the highs and lows, and being ready when opportunity knocks.

Key Reflections on the Journey to $1,000,000.

LearnDash’s journey wasn’t just about building an LMS for me. It was much more than that. It was about building connections, understanding needs, and innovating solutions.

The path to $1,000,000 wasn’t just a financial milestone; it was a mix of lessons learned, challenges embraced, and continuous growth for the brand and myself.

Being proactive, embracing challenges, and stepping into competitors’ arenas are necessary tactics along the way. It’s about not just playing the game but changing it, about not just being in the race but setting the pace.

So, carve your path, break the mold, listen intently, and remember, sometimes the winds of luck might just be blowing in your favor. Keep moving, keep learning, and keep growing!

Hey, thanks for reading!

I’m Justin — I can help you to grow your profits.

Prior to coaching, I was the founder and CEO of an edtech startup, achieving a respectable 32% YoY growth and 76% profit margin over eight years before eventually selling.