I Spent $1,000 on My First Funnel and Made $325. Here's What I Learned.
Landon's first product launch made 3 sales. But the lessons from that failure built a 10,000 subscriber business. His story proves success isn't a straight line.
Welcome to the First Digital Dollar Project
Every week, a solopreneur shares the honest story of how they earned their first dollar online. They also join me on Substack Live to dive deeper into their journey.
Each story follows one path from idea to struggle to income. You will see the doubts they faced, the pivots they made, and the exact steps that led to that first sale.
Whether you are still searching for your breakthrough or already building momentum, these stories show you what is possible when you take action.
This post is a guest contribution from Landon Poburan , a fellow solopreneur sharing the story of that first sale.
More on the project and the list of contributors:
What did you sell for your first digital dollar?
“How Any Nutrition Coach Can Create Predictable Cash Flow In As Little As 15 Minutes Per Day”
Seven years ago marked my first attempt at a digital product.
Dozens of hours, and over $1000 dollars invested to build that funnel.
After getting into the world of Russell Brunson and the crazy world of sales funnels I was hooked.
They made it look so damn easy.
I reading DotCom and Expert Secrets and I thought I had the blueprint.
Soon, I realized how niave I was.
I’d been making money “online” for a while before this.
I started as a freelance web designer and developer out of college. I was making enough to pay the bills building websites. I was experimenting with a little internet marketing. Teaching myself skills like Search Engine Optimization and Google Ads to serve my clients.
But the world of digital products and “passive” income were still foreign concepts to me.
By 2019, my career took a few turns.
Not only had I closed my boutique agency, but I had multiple other failures under my belt including taking on $100,000 of debt to close a business in 2018.
Over the next couple of years, I went all in.
I took 23 courses on ads, copywriting, and funnels.
I began joining programs, masterminds, and hiring mentors.
All of a sudden I world view began to shift.
I saw friends do 6-figure launches while I we sat in a conference room setting our quarterly goals. Almost daily I watched folks doing $100,000 per month while taking notes like a mad man on how I could do the same.
$10k Months and 6-figure Years became the gold standard.
Anything less was failure. Unacceptable.
Milestone 1: $10k Months.
Milestone 2: $100k Months.
So when I began reading about funnels and paid ads and watching everyone around me putting in $1 and watching $5-10 fall out? I had to try it for myself.
That’s when I got to work build my first passive income funnel.
The Catalyst For Client Attraction.
“How Any Nutrition Coach Can Create Predictable Cash Flow In As Little As 15 Minutes Per Day”
I built an extensive SLO (Self Liquidating Offer) Funnel:
1 Optin: DM Secrets (Free)
1 Product: The Catalyst For Client Attraction ($57)
1 Order Bump: The Ultimate Content Strategy ($7)
2 One Time Offer Upsells: Business Systems ($197) & Sales Training, Coaching Origins ($797)
The Core Product on it’s own was eight modules plus worksheets and templates. Not to mention all the work that went into building the optin, order bump, and upsells.
Between the time and money spent recording and editing the training videos, supporting worksheets, templates, building the funnel, drafting the emails, hiring designers, video editors, and paid ads…
…It was weeks, months, dozens of hours, and thousands of dollars.
That were never recouped.
How did you get that first customer?
Today, I’ve built an audience. Finally.
I have 10,000 subscribers and 20,000 followers on Substack.
I’ve published a book, spoken on stage, and get asked to speak 2-3 times per month.
None of this existed back then.
I had no brand, no following, no email list.
Just a handful of random Instagram followers from sharing gym pics from my time bodybuilding and a few people that knew me from my gym days.
And my old agency was built through referrals and attending weekly business over breakfast clubs.
So when it came to launching that first product?
I posted on social media—but it was simply an echo chamber.
Then I launched some Facebook ads, some very cringey Facebook ads.
I thought this was going to be “it.”
Everything I’d learned, the rooms I was in, and the programs I invested it sold me the illusion that this funnel, and a little paid ads, would lead me to the promise land.
You know, a straight line to $10k months, passive income, and becoming a Forbes Top 30 Under 30.
Except, when it was all said and done?
I made 3 sales.
For a total of $325.00—boosted because 1 person bought upsell 1.
A rude awakening that led me down a path of self-discovery.
Realizing that it’s not as simple as we’re sold.
What obstacles did you face?
The obstacles fell into a couple buckets.
Marketing barriers.
Seven years later, I now realize I faced two big obstacles in launching this product.
The first, I had no audience. No list. No brand. No one to sell it to. That’s why I was relying on paid advertising to be my primary source of traffic. But that brings us to…
The second, I had an unproven offer. Nothing I was selling had market validation. It was based 100% of what I wanted to create.
What I thought people might like. Zero proof. No one was asking me about these things. Even though I fully stood behind the validity of what I was selling, I was all in on a guess.
And at the end of the day, obstacles can be overcome. But, when we run paid ads without market validation, we’re effectively paying for it. I didn’t have the cashflow for this. I needed it to work, so when it didn’t, I was in the red, and couldn’t keep going.
Mindset limitations.
I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
My niavetty left me with unrealistic expectations. They were based on the books I read, the marketing messages online, and what I witnessed a few people achieve around me.
My inner critic was screaming, “What am I missing,” “What does everyone else know that I don’t?”
As experiences like this stacked I was left feeling like a failure.
What did you learn?
As the years progressed, my knowledge expanded.
That wasn’t my first “failure,” or my last, but over time I began learning from them.
My knowledge in marketing expanded, and I furthered my knowledge in paid advertising, funnels, offers, and copywriting. Eventually, breaking into the creator world in 2023.
I think one of my most valuable lessons that I’ve learned is that even if we can copy/paste the gurus blueprint, we can’t copy/paste their results.
Much of modern marketing overlooks the most important factor in business… Us, the person running it.
Think of it this way, every “Play” or “Playbook” is executed by a “Player.”
Over the years, my focus shifted from the plays to the player.
Slowly, I learned that everything works. It’s a matter of uncovering what works for us.
And when it comes to launching and monetizing digital products? It all works. Fundamentally, we need something to sell (economics) and we need someone to sell it to (reach).
Then when we factor in how we operate as an individual, we can start to craft and design an ideal business model for us.
What advice would you give someone trying today?
It’s important enough that it bears repeating: It’s rarely as simple as we’re sold online.
It will take longer than you expect—but I love being proved wrong. Often times we stop before we realize the results we’ve been working towards. That’s why we can’t overlook the player—us—so that we can keep moving forward even during the difficult times.
Success isn’t just hitting 10k in 3 months. It’s hitting publish that first time. It’s sitting down to write even if we have writer’s block. It’s taking Friday off when we’re tired.
Success isn’t just quantifiable financial markers or follower counts, and it’s definitely not a competition. Success is unique to you, your values, your goals, and your life.
As you embark on your journey to make your first dollar, I’ll leave you with these important reminders.
Develop a skill.
Build an audience.
Validate before you create.
Never stop experimenting and testing.
Remember, the real flex is being here next year, still doing the thing, and not hating it.
The best part of online business is that everything works.
The hardest part of online business is that everything works.
Choice can be both liberating and paralyzing.
That’s why it’s important to keep an open mind, keep it fun, and never stop experimenting.
We might need to build multiple products before we find “the one” that works—that’s Ok.
It took me years of personal development to realize that was actually that part that I loved—the build.
We don’t enter this world because it’s easy we enter it for the feeling it leaves us with.
Cheers to your success.
— Landon Poburan
The Vision of First Digital Dollar Project
By the end of 6 months, we’ll have created more than content.
We’ll have built proof that there are infinite ways to start.
That your background doesn’t determine your future.
That the first dollar is possible for anyone willing to ship, learn, and iterate.
Your story matters.
Your first dollar was a turning point.
Let’s celebrate it together.
More on the project and the list of contributors:
Find out how 20 solopreneurs with different products, different offers, different strategies, different paths earn their first digital dollars.
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Thanks Anfernee and Landon Poburan for sharing this journey.. I appreciate the value of persistence and continuous learning despite early financial setbacks in digital entrepreneurship. Great lessons to take away.
Your journey is a powerful reminder that early failures are stepping stones