Dean Holland Builds A Digital Business In 24 Hours From Scratch
Dean Holland and Louis Doughty’s 24 hour challenge which took place on Wednesday 26th April 2017 at Dean’s brand new InternetProfits’ offices in deepest, darkest England.
Live Case Study – Dean’s Insane Dare
The remit for this insane dare was to come up with an idea for a product, know who and where the ideal customer is, create the product, write all the sales copy and sell it, all within a 24 hour period.
Regardless of how they fared in the challenge (see below), Dean and Louis are successful razor-sharp marketers and this chronicle of their challenge serves as a real time, no holds barred, balls to the wall demonstration of what it takes to launch a full-blown digital business online today.
Follow The Story Of The Day As It Unfolded
Click the images below for the hourly Facebook Live video updates from Dean and Louis:
The Day Before
Dean Holland’s crazy challenge…
From idea, to product, to sales material, to launch, to first sale in 24 hours…
Can it be done?…
Hour 0 (Arrival)
Overview of the process and planning the next 24 hours.
Hour 1
Who is the target market. Constructing the avatar (the perfect customer).
Hour 2
Deeper male and female avatar development.
(Who are they and where do they read and hang out online).
Hour 3
Brainstorming the best product topics for these ideal customers (avatars).
And what would be the ‘big idea’ or hook behind the product.
Hour 4
General mapping out of the topics within the product’s modules.
Now planning to move on to sales materials next, leaving the actual product development for later.
Hour 5
Planning the sales funnel leading with a free case study and front end and upsell.
Hour 6
Funnel build is under way within Clickfunnels using this basic structure:
Optin > Front-end offer > OTO > Thank you page
Hour 7
Some live funnel building in Clickfunnels with Dean Holland.
‘Free Case Study’ 2 step opt-in page with video background, delivery page in development.
In two minds about the money back guarantee.
Hour 8
More funnel building…
Showing the two step “Free Case Study” delivery page.
Framework of the the front end sales page and thank you page are now in place.
Bigger cash prizes to be given out to Facebook Live watchers over the remaining 16 hours!
Hour 9
Funnel now taking shape with opt-in page, bridge page delivering the video case study and call to action.
The free+shipping front-end offer (simple look – inspired by a Russell Brunson sales page) and OTO one-click upgrade.
And finally the thank you/order complete page.
(Also added the Privacy & compliance pages.)
Hour 10
Round up of work done so far on sales funnel.
Front-end pop-up order form is now done.
Thank you page done.
Reminder of cash giveaways for showing up on the Facebook Lives.
Hour 11
Writing copy in the pub for the front-end offer using Russell Brunson’s copy formula:
“Who, What, Why, How, Catch, Urgency, Guarantee, Recap”
Dean runs through this copy structure which Russell designed specifically for free+shipping offers.
Hour 12
Back in the office, Dean reads out 2 pages of the sales script he’s written so far for the VSL.
Offers a cash giveaway of $100 in the Hour 13 Facebook Live update, if there’s enough shares of this Hour 12 update.
Hour 13
Video sales letter script worked on and polished up.
Dean reads out the updated version out.
$100 cash given out to the winner, and another $100 at hour 14 if there’s over 60 shares by then.
Hour 14
Final read through of finished script for the video sales letter.
Work now progressing on the email autoresponder campaign.
2 x $50 prizes given out to post sharers.
More free cash in Hour 15 if there’s 70+ shares by then.
Hour 15
Louis writing 5 or 6 ‘boomerang’ emails that send subscribers straight back to the offer, then come the story based emails.
Dean gives a rapid fire summary of progress so far and what’s to come in the next 9 hours.
100 likes plus 50 shares before Hour 16 and $200 will be given away in the next Facebook Live update.
Hour 16
Engagement with the Facebook Live hourly updates tails off.
Preparing for the video product creation.
A whiteboard conundrum.
Only 8 hours to go, the pressure’s on and Dean’s starting to feel tired.
Hour 17
Dean’s now shooting the product module videos.
Louis gives an overview of the product and funnel development, and the email sales system.
Hour 18
All of the product content should be recorded within the next hour and perhaps also the sales video.
Editing and production should also have commenced by the Hour 19 update.
Louis is still working on the email autoresponder series.
Both are feeling very tired now.
Hour 19
One more product module still to shoot.
Still a big list of thing to do with 5 hours to go:
Front-end and OTO sales videos, buyers campaign, edit, produce & upload all videos, create access to the product, etc.
Hour 20
All videos have finally been shot.
Unfortunately a technical problem with the camera’s file type means they need to be converted in order to be editable, which will take far too long for all of them.
So it looks like most of the videos will have to be drip fed into the product as they become available.
Hour 21
Three hours to go!
Because of the video conversion problem, Louis’s doing the free+shipping sales video with slides on Powerpoint.
The upsell video has been abandoned for now due to the technical issues.
Drip feed plan for delivering video modules now happening.
Hour 22
Dean and Louis have finished with the 24 hour challenge early.
The sales funnel with all the components as originally planned, hasn’t been fully realised.
Because of numerous and varied problems which have piled up towards the end, Dean decided to call a halt with 2 hours to go.
The front-end offer, order processing and the download page are in place.
Lead magnet and OTO integration are not in place.
Ad approval was also proving to be another time-based hurdle.
However, even though the challenge is finished, the project is not over and Dean will be working to improve and complete the sales funnel in due course.
Time for some sleep at last!
Final Word…
Thank you Dean and Louis for compressing so much hard work, innovation and enthusiasm into this project. Sharing the process with such energy and transparency has been an inspiration and reveals a glimpse of just how much work must go into developing your sales funnels. Very grateful, thanks again guys!
You can hear more from Dean on his next FREE Live webinar here…