A lot of the frustration I see in the expert/thought leader space has one root cause. So I want to give you some common examples of failure, and I'll build up the big reveal - the root cause and some potential cures for this horrible ailment. And if you think you're wrong in launching something that eventually failed, think again. Notice how many iterations of programs like Seth Godin's AltMBA, or Sam Ovens Consulting Accelerator, or Amy Porterfield's Courses That Convert. I've read various accounts that each of them are on their 4th, 5th, 6th or more MAJOR iteration of their program. And it's not just about continuous improvement. It's that they didn't get it right the first time. Either it didn't work the way they wanted it to, it didn't sell the way they wanted it to, or it didn't scale the way they wanted it to. So if those major players in those spaces didn't get it right the first time with their flagship programs, it shouldn't surprise us if we don't get something right the first time. Especially in the world of group coaching programs or online courses. Yet we have this weird expectation that we should get it right straight out of the gate, and this leads to the root cause I'll get into later. But first, let's get into the examples. Example 1: Going from individual client work directly to online products. Turns out it's fairly easy to create something that works when you're involved and hand-holding. But does the DIY version get people the results they want? It's also easy to create something you feel like people need, yet it's not the kind of thing they want to BUY. Or it just doesn't scale because it costs so much to bring in the right buyers to your world that at best you break even on the whole thing. All these failures become more likely when you go straight from individual client work to creating programs. Example 2: Offering a "harvest product" without building the foundation of demand to harvest. I went deeper on this in the episode on paid content and Substack, so I'll just give a quick overview of the idea. There’s a big difference between a program that helps you build demand for you, versus a program that harvests demand that already exists. Paid subscriptions, paid premium content, and even monthly memberships are all good examples of products and programs that "harvest" demand that already exists rather than helping you create new demand. In other words, they work great for people who already have an audience demanding more from them. Not so great for folks who are still in the audience and demand-building phase. The planting seeds phase. If you remember when Radiohead offered their album direct to fans at a pay-what-you-think-is-fair model. It was supposed to break the industry, but of course it hasn't. Because it only works for those with established audiences who are demanding more from the band than they already get. It took piles of record label money and years of touring and radio play to build that level of demand. Example 3: Building something that's scalable to deliver, but not scalable to market and sell. With the rise of ad costs and the fact that reaching people on social media organically is more time consuming than ever, it's not enough to build something that is scalable to deliver. Scalable marketing also has to be baked in for it to be truly scalable. Let's say you run a monthly membership for $19. But it costs you $50-100 or more to get a new member. That membership has to be amazing enough for them to stick around for 3-6 months. Not to make a profit off them...just to break even. That's why most of the folks offering membership programs, you find out their real offer is almost always some high-ticket offer on the backend. Coaching, events, masterminds, etc. That's where all the real profit is, and most of the other stuff they offer breaks even at best. So just because you've built something that's...