$1M/Year Teaching People How To Use Software

Paul Minors runs Minor Workshop, a productivity consulting business.

Per a recent interview, the business is raking in $1M+ year 💰

Paul says…

We’re an Asana Solutions Partner and Pipedrive Elite Partner.

(Asana = project management software. Pipeline = sales CRM software.)

We make money by 1) Charging consulting fees to set up and train teams on how to use these two software products and 2) Reselling the software or earning a commission for referrals.

Unclear what the split is with those revenue streams 🤷‍♂️

I’m guessing the bulk of revenue comes from #1, but Paul does have 34k subscribers on his YouTube channel and often has affiliate links in his video descriptions (example).

Those commissions can add up 📈

How Paul got started…

I first discovered Asana in 2012 when I was working in a marketing role at an e-commerce company in New Zealand… 

I took the lead in figuring out how to set it up, and I trained the rest of the company on how to use it. My boss at the time paid me a bonus as it really transformed how we worked together…

A few years later, I had been blogging about productivity for a while but struggled to earn enough to replace my full-time income.

That’s when…

I decided to offer Asana consulting services as I figured there must be other businesses out there willing to pay to learn how to use Asana better…

My hypothesis was correct, and within a few months of part-time consulting, I was earning enough to replace my salary. I started offering Pipedrive consulting as well.

He adds…

I didn’t realize it at the time, but my employer had helped me to validate my idea, and the experience demonstrated that there was value to be captured in this space.

This just goes to show that good business ideas could be hiding in plain sight in a previous experience you’ve already had.

Think about your current and past employment 🤔

Anything there that could be the seed of a consulting business?

Back to Paul, and how he found his first clients…

I listed my services on Clarity.fm (a dial an expert service). Clients would search for an Asana consultant and find my listing.

I even made free calls with friends to boost my listing and get reviews. This was a great way to validate that there was a demand for my expertise.

Nowadays…

In a typical month, we’ll make about $90,000 in sales from consulting and subscription fees… the business is very profitable. My biggest costs are the contractors on my team, which come in at around $14,000 per month… 

The margin is around 80% [around $70K+/month].

Paul has kept things pretty simple, no crazy business model or fancy marketing hacks.

He found something he could do well, and has been chipping away at it consistently for several years.

That’s how most successful businesses are built 💪

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