How a Grammy winner built a six-figure course business

• Expert music engineer Jeff Ellis set out to create the best mixing online course 
• Cheekily named “Mixer Brain,” his $370 course made over 1,500 sales in eight months
• Below, Jeff shares the key strategies behind the rapid growth of his course business

1. Launch your course, even if it’s imperfect

For Jeff, the biggest obstacle to launching his course was simply getting started. Despite feeling nervous about shooting his first video, he kept that first take in the final course to inspire learners, showing them that an imperfect start is a natural part of the learning process.

“You just have to jump into the deep end,” Jeff advises. “Once I took that first video, I was off to the races. I got over my fear of being on camera. All of a sudden, I got hit with so much energy, drive, and passion to create the course.” 

With this newfound motivation, Jeff moved quickly and pre-launched his course. In just five months, Mixer Brain made an impressive 1,000 sales.

2. Don’t be afraid to market your course with personality and humor

In a crowded online space, Jeff cuts through the noise by embracing his own personality and humor. This is reflected on the course’s landing page, where the intentional use of Comic Sans, a retro-inspired mascot, a bright palette of neon green and pink, and a cowboy-themed course trailer create a memorable first impression.

The same eccentricity can be found in Mixer Brain’s paid ads. “Our ads have wizards casting spells, and weird songs and narrator voices,” Jeff shares, adding that he often receives positive comments about them. 

The takeaway here isn’t about being funny in your marketing – it's about authenticity and taking creative risks. While your marketing might not feature wizards, having a unique brand helps you stand out online, get more leads, and ultimately grow your sales.

3. Price your course strategically, with the help of AI 

With the goal of educating music creators around the world about the art of record mixing, Jeff decided from the start that he’d make his course accessible to as many learners as possible. And he has a great tip for coming up with pricing: “After launching the course, I played around with the price a bit. Once I had enough data, I used ChatGPT to help look at my numbers and figure out what the most efficient sale price was.”

For Jeff, the optimal price point for his course is $370. By almost always running a 20% discount, the final price drops to $296, just under the $300 threshold. This strategic pricing approach helps create value perception and also reduces customer resistance.

4. Leverage your achievements and reviews to build trust 

In the online learning space, credibility is currency. For Jeff, that means using his professional track record to build immediate trust and eliminate buyer hesitation.

To validate the premium price of Mixer Brain, Jeff’s course landing page prominently showcases his Grammy Award, a list of notable artists he’s worked with (from Frank Ocean to Doja Cat), and tons of five-star learner reviews. The combination of industry accolades and community feedback is a powerful form of marketing in itself – it conveys the value and quality of the course, effectively prompting someone to go from casually browsing to clicking “buy now.”

By skillfully leveraging his professional achievements, learner reviews, and unique branding, Jeff made six figures in course sales in just five months.

5. Grow your revenue with paid ads

To maintain momentum in his business, Jeff now runs a high ad spend on Meta Ads, driving traffic to a custom landing page with a conversion-focused design and clear calls to action. 

“We’ve also set up a Google Search and Performance Max campaign to extend our advertising to Google platforms, which includes YouTube as well,” he says.

If you’re not quite ready to invest in paid advertising, Jeff has a great tip for marketing your offer to existing followers: “I just set up a Broadcast Channel on Instagram. It’s a really effective way to directly reach people who already follow you, without having to worry about algorithms getting in your way.”

6. Focus on curing your learners’ deepest pain points

Beyond marketing tactics, a successful online course must provide genuinely transformative value by effectively addressing learners' pain points. For Jeff, that means helping musical artists overcome the fears and insecurities that restrict their creativity.

“The most rewarding thing is when I see the impact that the course is having on my learners,” Jeff says. “A few years from now, the course is going to have such a strong impact on the world of music, having retrained so many songwriters, producers, and engineers to focus more on art and emotion.”

In fact, Jeff is so confident in the transformative power of his course that he backs it with a 100% money-back guarantee: “But no one's asking for a refund really, because the value add of this course is so much.”

Learn more about Jeff’s Mixer Brain course, follow him on Instagram, and see an example of his humor-filled ads.