SPI 633: Our BIGGEST Announcement Yet

SPI 633: Our BIGGEST Announcement Yet

Pat Flynn: This is big news from us at SPI. In fact, probably the biggest news we’ve ever offered, and the reason is because we are trying to change the way that entrepreneurial education happens. Yes, you have your free content like podcasts and YouTube videos, TikToks even nowadays. And then there’s the paid content that you’re used to, like the DIY courses, Power Up Podcasting, Email Marketing Magic, and 1-2-3 Affiliate Marketing.

We have a slew of courses that many people, thousands in fact, have gone through very successfully, but we know that we could do better, and by we I mean me and our team, at helping you get the results you need. So we are launching what we call the All-Access Pass, and that’s exactly what today’s episode is.

And whether you take advantage of the All-Access Pass or not in this incredible opportunity, I want you to pay attention because we’re trying to change the way that education is done online. For too long, people have been relying on DIY courses and for a very long time when information wasn’t readily available DIY courses, you know, self-paced courses were the way to go.

We also experimented on the other extreme doing cohort-based stuff, which requires a ton of time and a ton of touch-points along the way, which many people just don’t have the time to do. And plus, it can cost a lot more to take advantage of those sorts of efforts and access.

But the All-Access Pass is a beautiful hybrid between the DIY courses and the information that you need to succeed as well as the community and the support. We didn’t coin this term that I’m about to share with you, but we are using it and we want to be at the front line of how to do this right and educate you on the way that you need to learn about entrepreneurship.

That is community-powered courses. Community-powered courses. So, myself, CEO Matt Gartland, my partner friend, best friend. We actually share a birthday coming up very soon, actually next week we both turned 40, which is pretty crazy. We were literally born on the same day of the same year, December 6th. So thank you for all the birthday wishes in advance.

And I will say that for Matt as well. But we also have Ashley with us today, a brand new team member, our community experience manager, who we literally hired for this very purpose to help us with the All-Access Pass in creating an opportunity for everybody to get access to more of our courses for cheaper, but not just more of the courses.

That’s not the big draw here. In fact, just offering you access to more courses is actually overwhelming. But it’s the curriculum and the pathways that go along with it. It’s the guidance and the support and the accountability of the community that’s behind it. And again, we’re trying to set the example here, so pay attention cuz we’re gonna talk about the origin of the All-Access Pass and some of the things that we are involving with that so that you can do something similar in the future as well as you best educate and best observe your audience.

So here they are, Matt and Ashley and myself talking about the brand new SPI All-Access Pass coming soon.

Welcome to the Smart Passive Income Podcast, where it’s all about working hard now, so you can sit back and reap the benefits later. And now your host when his normal playlist just isn’t cutting it, he puts on a K-pop Spotify playlist. Pat Flynn.

Matt Ashley, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for being here today.

Ashley LaGrow: Yeah, thanks for having us. Really excited.

Matt Gartland: Glad to be back.

Pat Flynn: This will be great because we’re announcing something very big that’s coming. If you’re listening to this at the time, this comes out like pretty much next week. I mean, this is something the team’s been working on for so long, and Ashley, you’ve been at the helm of this creating it.

You have a lot of educational background. You’ve been a teacher for, for a very long time, and you came on the team to help us with curriculum and you’re like, we need to take these courses and and, and arrange them in the way that best serves our audience. Can you explain what the All-Access Pass is?

That’s the name of this amazing thing that we’re creating, that we’re launching. What is it exactly, Ashley?

Ashley LaGrow: Yeah. I am so excited that this is finally underway. I believe this is one of the reasons I was really hired is to help bring this to life. And the All-Access Pass, what it essentially does is it’s taking all of our courses and workshops that we currently have and putting them not only in a library that people get access to, but it really also comes with so many things to help keep you accountable.

It gives you the community to help drive you and keep you accountable, as well as offers different curriculum pathways to help you reach certain business goals. And we’re also offering some exclusive workshops along with that. So we’re not only just offering like monthly webinars, but it’s really hands on workshops that you get access to as well.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, like the one that’s coming up that I’m leading, which is gonna be about goal setting. It’s a perfect time of the year for that. And anybody who’s a part of the All-Access Pass will get access to that live workshop and the replay. But Matt, you and I have been working together for a very long time.

It was actually you and I who created our first courses on Smart Passive income back in 2017. And you know, before then it was mostly just content creation, affiliate marketing, but now the course library essentially has grown so big. We wanted to readjust the way that education works in the online space, especially for entrepreneurs.

Can you speak to where things are headed as far as courses and, and why we’re making this decision?

Matt Gartland: Yeah, it’s the right time based on how students are choosing to learn. And so much has changed on the internet and in society and just with entrepreneurship maybe at large since those early days, part of 2016, 2017 when we were first creating courses.

When we think about courses, maybe kind of bigger picture, you know, we have the do it yourself version that we have been doing and a lot of us creators have been doing since those early days. And then a little more recently, there’s this other type called cohort based learning. Right? Small groups kinda start and stop.

And we have done some implementations of those as well. What’s tremendously exciting about the All-Access Pass is that it hybridizes the two. It’s a bit of a blend. So we’re bringing together our really proven education products or courses that are really useful to teaching a certain skill or in leading a transformational process.

Right? But then as Ashley was describing, like we’re bringing into the picture really guided accountability, progress, checking accessibility to you to meet to others on the team in this kind of blended experience. And this is definitely where, you know, we’re hearing and seeing from our current community members and SPI Pro and even Pat, you know, just our friends sort of in the space that this is where we see more of the like ability to actually retain education and apply it within business going. So we needed to create this vessel, this All-Access Pass product to be able to really capture that potential.

Pat Flynn: Yeah. And we wanted to be at the forefront to sort of set the example for others in this way. And we’re really excited to bring you in on this because, you know, we’ve had a lot of students who’ve taken multiple courses and you know, that’s amazing.

I mean, they go from one to the next in a sort of sequence that they figure out for themselves and they get more results. They build their brand or their podcast and they go into email marketing cuz that’s the next sort of obvious step. And then from there they start monetizing. So they take advantage of one of our workshops and it’s kind of piecemeal together.

And some people figure that out on their own, but in this way it’s actually mapped out for you. Can you speak to what we call pathways and maybe give us some examples of different pathways that are inside of the All-Access Pass when you get in?

Ashley LaGrow: So I’m really, really excited to announce that we have three pathways that’ll be ready to go when this launches, and they’re all very different.

One of them that we have is called our starter pathway, so people can come in who might not even have a business idea or might have the beginning of a business idea. And we have four of our courses and workshops that are in a progressive order that will take you from a business idea to a full fledged email marketing list ready to go.

We have our podcasting pathway since our power up podcasting courses. So popular and podcasting is always a hot topic in our communities. We once again have four courses and workshops that are arranged in a sequence that makes sense to get you from just podcasting concept to advertising on your podcast, to videotaping yourself while you’re podcasting.

And also our, the newest one I’ve been developing is our income booster pathway. So it works for any type of business no matter if you’re in education like myself to crocheting, I don’t know why , I always use that as an example, but it is a set of three workshops and courses that we already have in a sequence that can help you boost your income no matter what your primary income methods are.

Pat Flynn: Right. And I know that pathway in particular is gonna be exciting because it works for any niche, no matter what stage you’re at. It helps as far as laying the foundation down, then it gets into the affiliate marketing course, and then it also gets into A to Z Webinars and helps you sort of progress through that.

And again, those are all individual courses that are now sort of stitched together inside of the All-Access Pass. What’s really interesting is economically, this is gonna be a huge savings for a lot of people too. Right, Matt? Can you talk about the finances of what this might look like and why we’re switching this model?

And yes, on the surface actually “losing money” if you wanna think about it that way, right? Cuz these courses, if you even just put one pathway together, four courses might cost, you know, over $2,000 and it’s not even close to that for the user and they get the community and the access to us as well.

So we’re hoping this is a no brainer, but Matt, can you speak to what the sort of investment will be and why it’s structured that way?

Matt Gartland: Yeah, with pricing and weight to be much more accessible. And that’s by design. We want to obviously affect as many, positively affect as many entrepreneurs as possible. So we’re only charging $59 a month.

At least that has a base rate. And Pat, to your point, like over the years, over, you know, seven years of doing online courses in that more traditional model, and we’ve been charging hundreds and hundred dollars for one individual course. You know, we, we have now what, 17 courses, when you include our workshops.

So like this model, you know, makes it that much more approachable, especially right now with, I think, how small business owners, entrepreneurs, creators, are thinking about investing in their things. Especially as actually describing more like maybe the starter phase. Like we wanna give them more flexibility, more options, you know, to potentially choose and build their own pathway without having to think about.

I’m gonna make a bigger investment decision with one course, but maybe I need a second and a third. So we’re trying to find that sweet spot between, you know, accessibility as well as as the economics.

Pat Flynn: It’s crazy to think we’ve had now 17 full on courses and workshops that we’ve put together, which is great.

We, we are in a very unique position in, in the space. With a lot of knowledge and a lot of people who can help support the community in that kind of way. And when you have a business like this, you know, typically, and this is what we recommend, you stick with one niche and just go hard and go deep on it.

And for us, we’ve just had so much extensive knowledge across the entire spectrum of, of entrepreneurship. We’ve had to create these other courses that are in other realms. But because of the vastness of the library, it’s become sort of, you know, overwhelming for some people and also, just a lot. So we wanted to put something together with the, with the amazing educational resources we have in a way that’s, like you said, a lower barrier to entry, an opportunity for people to get access to all, you know, all those different courses, but in, in a way that doesn’t overwhelm.

That’s the other thing about this is it’s like, yes, many people offer just access to all the courses, and if we just did that alone, this wouldn’t work. Actually, that would not be a service to you. So this is why the pathways are in there and the community and more. Matt, you have more to to add on this.

Matt Gartland: Yeah, because of that sense of reducing overwhelm, like there’s really two important things that we’ve kinda baked into the process. One is the cohort factor, right? Like people will be able to go through this instruction together, you know, as they come into these pathways. And then that’s further, again, supported thanks to Ashley, and Jillian, and then you and me even as well, you know, jumping in. So that’s number one, you know, and number two is with this sort of a model and approach on our side, we’re able to refresh our content more regularly, keep it more current, and be able to compress that education so that it’s more direct and more specific so that students don’t have to process like a vast array of information all by themselves. Right?

So to your point about overwhelm, like both of those dynamics are going to really help with the outcomes, really help students get through the material more easily, more quickly. And honestly, probably in, in a way that’s even more fun because again, they’re going through it together.

They have more access to us, and it’s all about the, the transformation, then the outcomes at the end of the day.

Pat Flynn: For sure. Now, this sounds interesting to, as a listener or viewer, head on over to SmartPassiveIncome.com/allaccess. And if it’s before the launch, you’ll obviously see a place where you can get first notification of it, or if it’s after the launch, obviously you can get access to it and get it early because the price will be much lower at that point.

As we always do, we, we wanna reward those who are quick to get in. So SmartPassiveIncome.com/allaccess.

Ashley, can you speak to the programming? Let’s say a, a beginner comes in and yes, you mentioned those courses for a beginner to go through and if I recall correctly, it’s Smart from Scratch and then build your own brands and get your website and audience up there.

Then email marketing magic, and then your Traffic Booster Workshop. And that’ll take you all the way from ideation to building an audience and even, you know, building an email list. Beyond just the course material. Can you talk about the programming and the different access and touch points a user might have?

Ashley LaGrow: Yeah, absolutely. When you join, it’s really a choose your own adventure. I like to think of it. So with those pathways, so if you take that starter pathway, for example, you will have all of the materials to do it yourself. And the pathways also include some exclusive materials such as a workbook I’ve put together for each pathway so you can do it yourself, or we will be having regular what, what we call accelerators.

So what that is is when you get in on an accelerator for whether it’s a pathway or a course, you’re going through it at the exact same time as other people in an asynchronous fashion. And I designed it this way because as business owners, we all have different schedules. They’re also in our communities, people from all around the world. And so what happens is you’ll have a schedule for that week of material that you need to be through by the end of the week. There’s asynchronous threads that are posted with discussions.

There’s places to show off some tips that you learn along the way, what you’ve created through it. And it’s really learning all together. And there’s also some optional live opportunities to jump on and co-work together as well. Because as we all know, entrepreneurship can seem kind of lonely. And so really that community aspect is what I believe will make the All-Access path so different and successful.

Obviously our courses do well, like in looking on the back end of things, people buy our courses, but we don’t just want them to buy the course. We want them to work their way through the entire course and do something with it.

Pat Flynn: Right. And as Matt said earlier, we have done the cohort style boot camps where it’s very intensive and there is a schedule and everybody has to show up.

And people on the other side of the world are literally up at 2:00 AM to come and join these calls so that they can get maximum value. And. We’ve had like a almost a hundred percent success rate for people who join those cohorts, but there are thousands of dollars because they require a lot more time from, from everybody, and there’s a lot more sort of involved with it.

But there’s a reason why only a few amount of people go through them. And it’s not just because the price point, it’s because they’re, they just don’t have that amount of time dedicate, you know, four hours a week to it. Whereas inside of the All-Access Pass, we’ve designed it so that no matter where in the world you’re at, no matter how much time you might have, you need a little bit of time obviously, but it doesn’t have to be necessarily at the same exact moment of the day for everybody, we can go through these courses together as an accelerator so that you can asynchronously connect with the Circle platform that you get access to with the All-Access Pass and whatnot. And this is like, we’re investing heavily. I mean, we invested in you, Ashley, we we’re investing a lot of time and money into this new style of program.

And again, as we always do at SPI, we want to take the lead and go to where the puck is going. Right? We don’t wanna go to where the puck is, and right now it’s sort of leaving the puck is leaving just DIY courses that you can do on your own. And yes, you could still get access to our courses sort of individually, but when you look at the economics of it, it’s like you can get Power Up Podcasting for $699 and then you don’t have the community, you don’t have the guidance through it, which is fine.

And it’s helped thousands of people in that way. But now we’re gonna be able to help a lot more people cuz the barrier to entry is a lot lower. There’s community involved and there’s people, and oftentimes when there’s people involved going through things with you, you are more likely to step up and, and and, and go along with the ride with other people.

Just like going to the gym. It’s a lot easier to go and you have a partner who’s able to help you and now there’s multiple people who can help you, including us at Team SPI. Matt, can you speak to the future state of the All-Access Pass. As far as you know, right now, we have so many courses and so many workshops and so many pathways.

Like for a person who invests in this now, what can they look forward to in the future with relation to the All-Access Pass and, and where we want it to go?

Matt Gartland: This becomes our version of almost like Disney Plus or, or Netflix or some version of your favorite subscription service, right? Because you know, we’re able to be then I would say predictive in like what’s coming and be able to telegraph that back to students and community members to say like, over the next 12 months, we’re gonna be coming out with, you know, this course, this workshop, this special event.

You know, that, that’s kinda baked into the experience. Much like, you know, with some of those, this other bigger kinda media companies or like the MCU, you know, for, for Marvel. Like they can say like, Hey, here are the new shows that coming to Disney Plus, here are the big flagship that are coming soon. We can source that information and hear about like what’s happening and what’s in demand from our community members and our students.

Bring that together into our own like product roadmap if you will, which is another way of saying it. And then we can say like, Hey, based on what we’re hearing and where we know that there are pain points and where we can even potentially like refresh older, you know, more flagship curriculum that we can get people excited around like what’s coming soon.

Another way of this that we have talked about, is that in a way like we’re able to almost, you know, use the community to tell us, you know, where we need to go in that like, where’s the puck moving sort of mindset, which is really exciting. Especially even with folks joining All-Access today. Not only do you get the All-Access past experience, you also get access to our Learner Community.

So in thinking about All-Access as a community based product, you know, subscribers and students that come in will also have access to our, our entry level kinda community, which is called the Learner Community, that also Ashley manages for us, right?

Pat Flynn: And that’s a part of the price point, and that that does come with the monthly cost normally, and that’ll just be baked into the cost of All-Access.

So this is like a no-brainer. You know, we know we serve a lot of people who are at the start of their journey or right in the middle, middle of it who are who are struggling or, or, or, or challenged in some way. And so we are here to help you and bring all of our best resources in, into a program that allows for us to get through it and get through it together and get through it without as much overwhelm as it that, that you might have.

I’m really excited to the point where we can make these, I don’t know if there’ll be. Twice a year or even, you know, once a year to start the new year, we have like a, a keynote type presentation where everybody comes in and gets sort of a, a sneak peek at what’s coming and the courses that are gonna come out, the workshops that are gonna be happening, the special guests that’ll be a part of this, et cetera.

I also really wanna make sure that we continue to spotlight our members as we have been and inside of SPI Pro. And, you know, our best resource for energy and inspiration are, is you. And so when you take action, achieve something, we wanna share that, not just because we know it’s gonna also help you get more exposure, but then reward you.

But because that’s gonna inspire others to, to follow suit. And that’s really the power of, of community. So, you know, for those of you listening, you know, we’ve been banking and, and really investing heavily in just community in general. This is a sort of phase two of our community efforts with regards to programming and, and support and education underneath it. Taking what we already have in a way, and basically breaking it apart and putting it together in a better way for you. So we’re really excited for you to check it out. If you go to SmartPassiveIncome.com/allaccess, you’ll get all the information there.

We also have a launch party happening on December 7th, and likely that information will all be on that one spot. Again, SmartPassiveIncome.com/allaccess and I’ll have some more notes and, and links for you and the resources right after this conversation. But to close up, because we want you to take action and get involved, we don’t wanna talk too long about this cuz I think we’ve really said all we needed to say about it. You can check out the page for more information.

But Ashley, let me start with you. Any advice for a person who might be on the fence thinking about this? It’s a brand new thing that really hasn’t really come out yet in this kind of way.

What might you say to them to help them feel comfortable with the opportunity that’s in front of them and the investment that they can offer?

Ashley LaGrow: With that price point, I would say just try it. And especially if you get in, now you have a say in what our first accelerator is. So our first accelerator will be happening at the beginning of January, and so throughout December, like you said, you are our first workshop focus on goal setting.

You’ll get that and you’ll also have the opportunity to let us know what you need out of the experience most and help shape the experience because this is brand new and I’m a full-time community manager, and there I’m learning with you. I’m listening, and so I wanna know what you want out of this experience and we will help tailor it to you.

Pat Flynn: Nice. Thank you Ashley. So you could get in and based on the feedback of those new users, you can join the accelerator and go through a particular pathway together or a particular course together. Or you can just go on your own cuz all that stuff’s already ready for you. Once you get in and we’ll guide you through the process.

Once you get in, you’ll know exactly what to do next. Cuz we, that’s one of our most important things with our communities is making sure you’re not lost. And so, yeah, feel free to reach out to Ashley and reach out to us. If you have any questions, join us on the launch party on December 7th, and if you’re listening to this afterwards, again, SmartPassiveIncome.com/allaccess.

Matt, let’s end with you. What might you say to the person who is an entrepreneur or soon to be entrepreneur who is thinking about this opportunity?

Matt Gartland: Something of a punctuation to Ashley’s point, honestly, is to, you know, get in and try, especially now because on when you’re listening to this, if it is in the month of December, we are inviting folks to be a founding member of this new product, which is really special for us.

We’ve done this effectively in the past, and we have a really amazing, like founder group, for example, in our SPI Pro community. So this exists now and we very much are excited to, in, you know, a limited number of founding members. And all those details are on the, on the page path that, that you have mentioned.

So it’s just, it, it’s the perfect time to kinda roll up your sleeves and be a really integral part of like the future, not only of what we’re trying to do, but very much where we see this industry going.

Pat Flynn: Exactly. And you know, we are just post Thanksgiving at the time that this recording comes out. We want to thank you for being a part of the SPI community as a, as a subscriber, and a listener, and a viewer. But we wanted to put something together for you that would help prepare you for the year and years to come. And again, go to where the puck is going as far as how education is done in the entrepreneurial space. And so we’re here for you at SmartPassiveIncome.com/allaccess.

Thank you so much. Stick around. I got a few more notes for you right here at the end of the podcast. And Matt, Ashley, thank you so much for your time today.

Matt Gartland: Thrilled to be here.

Ashley LaGrow: Yeah, thanks for having us.

Pat Flynn: All right. I hope you enjoyed that conversation. That was Ashley, our community experience manager, Matt Gartland, who you’ve heard on the show before, probably and myself talking about something brand new for you.

Again, the All-Access Pass, we do have a launch party happening on December 7th, the day after me and Matt’s birthday. If you wanna check that out, head on over to, you can go to actually two places. You could check out SmartPassiveIncome.com/comingsoon. And that page will in the future, redirect to where you need to go to learn about the All-Access Pass.

But that’ll give you sort of the way into this launch party and the big announcement, and you could be one of the first 200 founding members and get an exclusive founding member discount, as well as other things that come along with that if you are first. So make sure to check that out. And of course, SmartPassiveIncome.com/allaccess. No spaces. So comingsoon or allaccess, either one will work for right now. And thank you so much and I look forward to seeing you in the All-Access Pass and hopefully we’re doing the right thing by leading the charge here and creating this hybridization of DIY courses and community-powered courses.

You’re gonna hear that a lot, not just from us but from the industry. And like I said, we wanna go where the pucks going. Thank you so much. I appreciate you. We’ll see you there.

Thanks for listening to the Smart Passive Income Podcast at SmartPassiveIncome.com. I’m your host, Pat Flynn. Our senior producer is David Grabowski. Our series producer is Paul Grigoras, and our executive producer is Matt Gartland. Sound editing by Duncan Brown. The Smart Passive Income Podcast is a production of SPI Media. We’ll catch you in the next session.