“If people are on your website, they’re interested. Give them that service or product that’s going to make you money a little bit easier. Just do it.”
Coral Wilkinson | See Me Aged Care Navigators
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You want to make money while you sleep, but what does that look like in reality?
How can an everyday human go from servicing customers one-to-one to creating one-to-many automated digital passive income products?
Today, we’re talking to a real-life ADPIP Aged Care Specialist, Coral Wilkinson, about how she created her ADPIP empire, the challenges, the wins, and the lessons she has for you.
Tune in to learn:
- Working smarter, not harder: how Coral got the idea for a more passive income
- Why Coral started by building a supportive community
- How Coral identifies her ideal client
- Why Coral’s main ADPIPs are focused on masterclasses, community and support
- Why Coral uses word of mouth for effective brand awareness
- How Coral uses free downloads to lead into her main offers
- How Coral prices her membership
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About Coral Wilkinson
With 30 years experience in health and aged care, Coral helps families keep their older loved ones well and in their own homes.
Connect with Coral Wilkinson
- See Me Aged Care Navigators
- Coral’s book: My Parents Are Ageing, What The Heck Do I Do?
Buy the book
Transcript
Kate Toon:
You want to make money while you sleep, but what does that look like in reality? How can an everyday human go from servicing customers one-to-one to creating one-to-many automated digital passive income products. Today, we’re talking to a real life ADPIP Aged Care Specialist, Coral Wilkinson, about how she created her ADPIP empire, the challenges, the wins, and the lessons she has for you. Hello, my name is Kate Toon. I’m the founder of Stay Tooned, a busy business owner and a digital product passive income queen. Today, I’m talking with Coral Wilkinson. Hello Coral.
Coral Wilkinson:
Hi, Kate.
Kate Toon:
Oh, it’s good to have you here. Let me tell you who Coral is. Coral is a registered nurse, and an advocate, and author who supports people to understand Australia’s aged care system. With 30 years experience in health and aged care, Coral helps families keep their loved ones well in their own homes. Now, before this, we have literally just spent time with each other. We were both speaking at the Cairns Tropical Writers Festival where Coral was talking about her book. What’s the title of your book again, Coral?
Coral Wilkinson:
My Parents Are Ageing, What The Heck Do I Do?
Kate Toon:
That’s such a good title. It’s like literally the pain point. I’m in this situation at the moment, so I loved hearing your story. But now you do have some passive income products, but it wasn’t always true. What did you do before you went into passive income? I know you were a registered nurse, but what did your one-to-one service look like before you went into one-to-many?
Coral Wilkinson:
I was working really hard, long hours, very time-intensive, one-on-one, and I couldn’t stretch myself any further. More and more people were wanting our services, so I realised I actually had to work smarter and not harder, because I didn’t have any extra hours in my day. That’s where the idea for a more passive income, meeting the needs of more people, at that time, became a reality for my business.
Kate Toon:
Yeah. I think we all get to that point, where it’s like, actually, my one-to-one thing is going quite well. I’ve got clients, they’re paying me money, but I have literally run out of time. There is no more time. I could keep putting my rates up, but in a way as well, sometimes that isn’t the answer, because that means you can’t work with some of the people that you want to work with. Your price becomes a barrier to entry. As well as time, creating passive income products mean that you can work with more people and at a lower price point, because I’m sure loads of people would love to have your know-how, but some of them just can’t afford it. Actually, it feels like a way for you to make more money, but it actually gives more people access to you at a more affordable rate. You are offering people one-on-one coaching about their particular situation, navigating through all the systems and the paperwork. What was your big little idea? What did you think you could create that would help people in a one-to-many way?
Coral Wilkinson:
It was building a community and creating a community 100%, Kate. The only way to offer my services, and my knowledge, and what I can do to more people at a better price point and being, I guess, inclusive perhaps isn’t the right word, but it’s community. In the aged care sector, supporting older loved ones, everyone feels like they’re out there doing it on their own and everyone’s seeking that support, so creating a service or a product that met the needs of more people and people felt supported by each other.
Kate Toon:
Oh, love that. You now have a membership. We’ll talk more about the membership in a minute, but you’ve hit the nail on the head. I love that the main reason that, yes, it’s education. You’ve written a book, you know a lot about this. But in reality is people come, I say this in the book, people come for the content and they stay for the community. Because people are lonely, and people are going through these difficult journeys, whatever it may be, alone. They just want someone to share that with and for someone else to go, “Yeah, I felt that way too. This is what I did.” That can be way more valuable to people than the education at some point. I love that. Community was what you wanted, that combined some coaching, some kind of group support, and also education. What fears did you have when you started to launch that? Were you like, “This is going to be amazing,” or you’re like, “God, what if no one buys it?”
Coral Wilkinson:
Well, it was that, “God, what if no one buys it?” That’s that weird imposter syndrome that I think most of us can’t escape from. But repeatedly, my community and my clients told us and showed us that they wanted to come back, that they wanted more. They wanted to be part of something. I wrestled with this silly imposter syndrome and what if no one buys it. People do. They come back, and they buy it, and they keep coming back, and they keep engaging us. Our clients are ongoing. That is my fear, but that fear gets debunked time and time again.
Kate Toon:
Yeah, but it does rise up again and again.
Coral Wilkinson:
It does.
Kate Toon:
I think there’s also sometimes a fear of like, “Will people buy it from me? Who am I?” Even though you’ve got all this experience, but you’ve been in the system for 30 years. You’ve got proven experience. There’s still a bit like, “Yeah, but why me? I’m not a professor of [inaudible 00:05:28] from the University of Fufu. I’m not a doctor, I’m not this. Who am I to share this?” But the thing is no one can argue with your lived experience. Often, when it comes to ADPIPs, it’s so much less… I mean, you actually have the qualifications as well, but it’s so much less about qualifications and more about lived experience in being able to show that you’ve helped people and results. I love that. How would you define your USP? I’ve just met you at a networking event, and I’m like, “Coral, what do you do?” How would you answer that?
Coral Wilkinson:
Well, I guess I would say we guide people through Australia’s aged care system. We help them to get the right support at the right time so they can remain at home.
Kate Toon:
Oh, so beautiful and succinct. What I like about that USP is it enables you to straddle both the one-to-one and one-to-many, because you can add a second sentence there that says, “We do this through our community, our resources, our trainings, and our one-to-one coaching.” You know what I mean? It’s like we have this plethora, this smorgasbord of different ways we can service you at different stages in the journey and different price points. Fantastic. Let’s get onto the next core part of marketing. Who is your ideal client? When you’re writing your content, when you’re putting together resources, who is it for in your mind?
Coral Wilkinson:
It’s people just like you and me. Sandwich generation, adult children of older people, people who have their own careers, they’re running their own businesses, they’re raising their own families, and they have ageing parents. They just want to support their parents and do the right thing for them, but they’re really time-poor. They want great advice, accurate advice, and support, and so they come to us and say, “Help.”
Kate Toon:
Yeah. I think the thing that would be interesting for me is there’s lots of stages to that. I am pre this thing, but already thinking about it partially, because I know you. You’re in my membership and I have your book. I’m not doing it yet, but I’m worried about it. There’s people who are they’re at that point, suddenly it’s become an issue and they’re in crisis mode. But then there’s people who are halfway through and realise that it’s not working, and they’re not getting the right information and they’re stuck. You’ve actually got several levels of people down the pipe. People who know it’s going to be a problem soon, people who’s a problem today, and people who are in the middle of it, but then also people afterwards who are dealing with the ramifications of this. Do you segment those people? Do you have different offerings for each people? Yeah. How do you-
Coral Wilkinson:
100%, Kate. I’m living and breathing this experience with my mum as well. All those different levels are real. We have some very entry level products. We run our masterclasses to cover those different levels, then we step up to a one-on-one one-hour consultation. We call it a Let’s Talk. Literally, that’s what it is. Let’s talk about what you need help with. People often say, “I don’t really know what I have to say or what I need to say.” We say, “It’s fine. Within the first five minutes, we know exactly where you are, and we can guide you on the right path.”
Kate Toon:
Yeah. At the end of those talks, you can send them into the appropriate product, whether it is more one-on-one, whether they will be content with the membership based on that chat. I love that. What makes up your ADPIP universe? You’ve talked about the fact that you have masterclasses, you’ve got lead magnets, you’ve got your community. Is the community the end point? Is that your ongoing product? What have you got?
Coral Wilkinson:
Yes, we have all of those. We’ve got some downloadables we’re working on. We’re working really hard. We’re developing new downloadables. The aged care system is going through some big reforms now, so we have to keep on top of that all the time and reflect that in the kind of work and the products that we offer people. The masterclass was the big revelation for us. We realised, last year, that it was community and support. Really, I guess, I know this is a bit cliche, but authentic. My approach is not about the dollar and the business. In this industry, people, they’re very wary. There’s a lot of trauma. The aged care sector’s got a bit of a bad rep in the press. Yes, I’m running a business and need to make money, but we get it, because we’re supporting our own parents.
We offer that value. The membership, bringing people in, giving them that personalised one-on-one, and knowing that they can reach out to us. I’ve got to sleep at night, I’m not going to answer those messages in the Facebook group in the middle of the night. But having that response in a timely manner, because crisis… Things change overnight, in a day, in a week for people. They need to know that they’ve got someone to go to, and they’re going to get great advice in a timely manner.
Kate Toon:
See, this is it. I talk in the book about obviously the digital marketing tactics and the financials, but I think one thing I talk a lot about as well is the soft skills and do you have the right personality to be somebody who can run a membership? Maybe you don’t. You, obviously, you’re a nurse. You are caring by nature. That’s literally part of your job. The bedside manner, the making people feel safe and comfortable, not everybody will have that. Sometimes, different ADPIPs work for different personality types. If you are really a quiet person that doesn’t like talking to people, maybe a course would be good for you. You can get in, get out. It’s not running all year round. Maybe I wouldn’t recommend anyone does a mastermind unless they’re really able to work with people over a long period of time, because it’s an intimate relationship and can be very draining.
Unless you do put boundaries in place, it can eat you alive. That’s my problem with my masterminds. I care a lot, and I give it too much, and then I feel drained. It doesn’t matter how much money I’m making from it, I just feel exhausted by it. For me, I do offer programmes there for a very limited number of people, because I just can’t go, and I prefer to do light-touch memberships where I can, yes, be present, be authentic, but it’s light-touch. It’s not at that deeper level. I think that’s a really important soft skill to mention. Let’s talk about some of the marketing stuff though. People will be sitting here thinking, “Well, I would love to do this, but no one knows who I am.” What has been the biggest brand awareness driver for you? What do you think has been your most successful brand awareness campaign?
Coral Wilkinson:
I love this question, Kate, because when I launched my business, no one knew who I was as well. I was a registered nurse in the public health system for 30 years, and I stepped into this big wide world of community aged care. Who was I? I was just an RN that worked in a hospital. My approach is always being genuine and perhaps overdelivering but really caring about what we do. We often say that we treat our clients like family, and we do, so giving that value and then following up. We often say to our clients, “When you get that assessment or when you get that approval, look us on email and tell us what you got, because we’re behind you. We want to celebrate with you and people do.”
As a small business, we certainly don’t have a big marketing budget. We have to be clever about that. It’s all word of mouth. People will write back to us and say, “Had this great outcome. You’ve been so amazing. You’ve helped us.” We say, “That’s great. Would you mind leaving us a testimonial? Because when people are searching for services like ours, they want to know that we can deliver, that we are trustworthy, that we’re reputable.” People, all of our Google business reviews are five-star, and they’re amazing because people describe their experience with us. Word of mouth and having that demonstrated value out there on the web is what’s made a difference for us. Yeah.
Kate Toon:
Yeah. Word of mouth is a fantastic, I think, as… Taking the time to actually ask for those testimonials, maybe sometimes you have to ask a couple of times because people are busy and their life is hard. Making it very easy for people to give them testimonials, giving them examples of previous ones, giving them multiple different places. Not just saying leave it on Google, because some people are very challenged by logging into Google. “Here’s Facebook, here’s True Local, or just email us.” Another thing, I think, that can really work well there is the tell-a-friend approach. “Thank you so much, [inaudible 00:14:15]. If there a one person you think would benefit from our services, could you let them know?” People want to do word of mouth, but they’re obviously then waiting for the opportunity for that to come up. Whereas if you say to them, “I don’t want anything from you,” but, “If you could tell one friend about us,” they will suddenly think, “Oh, who could I ask? Who can I tell who’s in a similar situation that can work well?”
All right, well let’s talk about lead generation. Obviously, one of the big tactics for you as your book, which is a big undertaking to write a book and get it out there. We both talked about that it can be expensive, but that also positions you as a bit of an expert in this space. It builds up gravitas and authority, because you’ve written… Someone says, “She’s literally written the book on aged care,” that’s you. But what else has worked for you? What other things do you give out in the world to get leads to come in?
Coral Wilkinson:
I speak a lot. I’m very generous with my time, and I love what I do. I love educating. When a community group asks me to speak, I’ll say yes, and I’ll go and speak. Offering free downloadables on the website. On our website, we put all those testimonials because these are lived experiences by people who are going through the same thing as everybody else. We utilised, I guess, the goodwill and that feedback that we get to show other people that we’re a great service.
Kate Toon:
But speaking has been… We talked about the testimonials.
Coral Wilkinson:
Speaking, yes.
Kate Toon:
Speaking. Okay, that’s a good one, because again, a lot of the methods that people think are good for lead generation, and we covered them in the book, are quite passive. I’ll put a lead magnet up, I’ll put a small course up, but actually physically going out into the world and speaking, obviously, most of the time, that’s going to be unpaid, but you know that it’s going to bring the leads in.
Coral Wilkinson:
It does. Yeah.
Kate Toon:
Yeah. Once people are in your funnel, and you’re giving them all this free stuff, and they’re into you, how do they take the first step with you? Maybe they’re not ready to join your membership or book one-on-one, is there something small? We would call this, in marketing terms, a horrible term, tripwire. Is there a small paid thing that you have that helps them make their first purchase from you?
Coral Wilkinson:
We have our small one. Our two small ones are free, and they’re great. They’re a checklist and a roadmap. From there, we are currently developing eBooks now. They’re, I guess, a next level kind of checklist. Are you eligible for this service? People can download it and we relate it to medical conditions. We’re teaching people what they need to say at what point to get approved for service A, B, or C, in their own home.
Kate Toon:
Those will be paid, so they will actually be tripwires or-
Coral Wilkinson:
Yes.
Kate Toon:
Because it sounds like you have a lot of free, and we need to have something that’s in between free and the full wax. That’s what the tripwire is. For those listening who don’t understand the purpose of a tripwire, it’s to make people make a small purchase from you rather than just getting lots and lots of free stuff. Because if you keep giving free, people will expect everything for free. Somebody who isn’t willing to pay 47, $97 for a product will never buy the real thing. It’s a way of narrowing the funnel and moving people along. Obviously, for the membership, you have a sales paid for that membership. How was that? How was putting your sales page together? Because that can be quite challenging.
Coral Wilkinson:
Yeah, yeah. I guess, look, just circling back to that last question, Kate, we do actually have a paid masterclass that we run every fortnight, [inaudible 00:17:51] the $47. Yeah. We experimented with that last year, and we ran them for free. This year, we said, “Well, we’re a business, we can’t keep doing stuff for free.” We put a $47 price point on that end, and it’s working.
Kate Toon:
Yeah. That’s it.
Coral Wilkinson:
Confirmation that’s-
Kate Toon:
It teaches an important lesson. Better to get 10 people paying for that, who are highly then down your funnel there, they’re really close to conversion, and they’re so much more likely to buy the big thing. But it can be easy to stay in free land, because everyone loves free and everyone’s going to keep signing up to it, but it’s not really proving anything to you. It’s not really proving that your model works. You have to put a price on something to move people along. I love that you’ve got that. I knew you had one. I was like, “She’s definitely got one.”
Coral Wilkinson:
I guess why I said that was this is leading into the membership, so that people who are coming back and attending and paying those masterclasses, they want this. The membership, we are hoping to launch that next month. Now, like I’ve said throughout our conversation, I’m really busy. I don’t have any more hours in my day. I realised I had to get help to develop the sales page and the membership, and that’s what I have done. I engaged a fabulous copywriter and we-
Kate Toon:
She’s also a member of the DMC.
Coral Wilkinson:
Who’s also a member of DMC.
Kate Toon:
She did my sales page course, so that’s amazing. I will just say a little plug for the DMC. In the DMC, we have an amazing sales page course and we have a sales page checklist. It’s a great way for non-writers to write. But as we talk about in the book, you have to play to your strengths and either you invest your time, which still has a cost attached to it. If you’re a $100 an hour and it takes you 10 hours to write your sales page, it’s $1,000 dollars. You can either choose to spend your time and money or invest in somebody else. Either way, you’re going to be spending one way or the other, so I love the fact that you’ve outsourced that. Now, I’m going to skip over retention and advocacy, because I think you’ve talked about that a lot, getting good word of mouth and testimonials and people wanting that continued feeling of community.
The fact that you are emphasising community, community is what creates retention, not just more and more videos and content. It’s like people stay because they’ve built relationships with you, relationships with other people in the group. You’ve talked to us about the fact that you get them to leave Google reviews. Let’s move into talking about launches. You are about to launch your membership. What launch tactics do you have planned for that?
Coral Wilkinson:
We’ve been talking about this for some months now. We realise that you can’t leave it until pre-launch to start talking about this. We’ve been building this up through last year in our newsletters. Our newsletters get a great open rate. People email us back, they read the newsletters. We’ve been discussing this for some months now. On our social media as well, we put it out there. “This is coming. This is coming. This is what it’s going to offer you.” We’re certainly creating that awareness well before the launch.
Kate Toon:
Have you set up a waitlist page for people?
Coral Wilkinson:
We haven’t done a waitlist page.
Kate Toon:
Well, that could be something that works really, really well, because that then… The reason I love a waitlist page is it builds comfort for the customer, that they know something is definitely coming, and that they’re in first in line for it. But it creates comfort for you, because even if you get 20, 30 people on that waitlist, they are so keen that your conversion rate could be super high, especially with your first launch. I will warn everybody listening that your first launch is your easiest, because it’s all your best people will join. All the people who love you, and have already worked, with you and think you’re great. As you keep going, it gets a little bit harder, because you’re starting to market to complete strangers who are right at the beginning. Yeah, I would highly recommend setting up a waitlist page, but you’ve hit the nail on the head.
What we talked about in the book is that you are actually launching all year round and you have ever more. But the great thing is to, even though it’s far out launching, you have a call to action. All year round, people can be joining a waitlist, which is them going, “I don’t want to forget about this. I don’t want to miss out about this, and I’m keen.” Really, all that waitlist page needs to be for now is a page for the name of the membership, a first name field, and an email address. It doesn’t need to have any information about it, because the information is in the newsletter. But somewhere where you’re segmenting those people out who are way more keen than just the general people, it will really help your mindset, because you’re not launching to just your list, you’re launching to a keen list.
Coral Wilkinson:
Brilliant. Thank you, Kate.
Kate Toon:
No problem. Let’s talk money. Let’s talk a little bit of money. Obviously, right now, you’ve got your masterclasses and whatever. Do you have a price point for your membership that you’re starting with?
Coral Wilkinson:
Yes. It is going to be a one-off offer of $997 for the 12 months. After that, the price will go up. We’re creating, I guess, that tension. People get in early, this price will not be repeated. It will be going up.
Kate Toon:
Are you offering a monthly payment as well?
Coral Wilkinson:
We’re not, but we’re offering after pay, so people who can’t afford that one-off payment up front still have that option then to delay payments, so to speak.
Kate Toon:
Yeah, great. There is that kind of affordability option. Generally, what you would do is it’s $97 a month, but it’s 970 for the year. You actually essentially get two months free, which is another incentive. As you said, that methodology of your OGs getting that price, they’ll have that price forever unless they leave. That is a way. You just gently and incrementally put the price up over time, not excessively. You’re not going to be suddenly charging $10,000, but you’re trying to not be tricksy, but create that kind of value for the first people and then they get rewarded. I’ve had people in my Clever Copywriting School who joined nine years ago and are paying a literal pittance. They always will, because that was what I promised. You have to stick to that. I love that. In terms of your income pie chart, trivial to you, I would say that’s a bit old school, right now, I’m guessing the slice of pie for your ADPIPs is quite small, but what would you love it to be? Would you love it to be 30%, 50%, 100%? What are your goals?
Coral Wilkinson:
Oh, look, it is small now. I’d say it’s possibly about 15%, but we are certainly wanting to get it up around 80%, because this is… I love doing this. I wanted to make a comment, Kate, because like I’ve said before, I’m living and breathing this with my own mom. At the end of the day, when I’m really tired, and everyone’s gone to bed, and I have a few moments to myself, I get online. If I’m needing to know something, I’m Googling and researching. Now, I know our clients are doing that as well. They come to my website and something happens overnight, a purchase or a sign-up will happen. I wake up in the morning to this delightful surprise, because that information and that support is available instantly. That’s what people need. We don’t have that time during our day to be doing our research and making the calls. In the middle of the night, when busy moms and dads are looking for this kind of support, you have to have it available.
Kate Toon:
I love that. I have a section in the book called the Clive Google Factor, so CGF. It is if you can get to the heart of what your customers are, Googling at 3:00 A.M., you’ve won. It’s not about demographics and knowing that it’s Sue, and she’s 47, and she drives a Volvo. It’s what the hell is someone typing into their phone when they woke up at 3:00 A.M., and the whole world crashes in on them, and they’re like, “Help.” If you can be there for somebody in that dark hour, then the next day, when they’ve had the coffee, they’re going to get their credit card out and they’re going to buy your thing. You’ve hit the nail on the head. I love that. That’s the CGF. You’ve hit the CGF, which is my acronym. Amazing.
Look, people listening to this will be excited by your journey. I love the fact that you’re literally about to join your membership. Maybe by the time this podcast’s out, it will be live. You can head over to the links in the show notes to find that. What would be one tip that you would like to pass on for a potential ADPIP-er?
Coral Wilkinson:
Look, absolutely do it, and do it sooner rather than later. It took me some time to understand this and to have the courage to do it. Absolutely do it. If people are on your website, checking you out, seeing what you offer, they’re interested. Give them that service, that product, that is going to make you a little bit of money a little bit easier. Just do it.
Kate Toon:
Yeah, take that next step. Coral is a member of the DMC. Her sister is also a member. We’ve talked to her lens about her offerings. If you want to connect with Coral, head to the show notes for the episode. You’ll find a link to her book, her website, and all her lovely ADPIP products. Coral, thank you so much for talking to us today.
Coral Wilkinson:
Thank you, Kate.
Kate Toon:
It’s been amazing. Thank you. Lovely Coral, such a lovely woman. I mean, if there’s anybody who wants… You want to be guided through that period of your life, I can’t think of a better person, and the book is amazing. Thank you for listening to the show. It’s a new show, so it’d be amazing if you could leave a rating or review wherever you’re listening to it. Also, don’t forget to check out the show notes for this episode at katetoon.com. You can buy a copy of Six Figures While you Sleep anywhere where you get good books. If you want to join the Six Figures While you Sleep Program, head to my website to find out more. Also, I have a free group called The Misfit Entrepreneurs, where you can meet lots of other successful and hopeful ADPIP-ers for tips and advice. But until next time, people, stay sleepy.
