4.4 | Creating Multiple Streams of Income Using Digital Products with Leah Ardent
Part 2 of an Interview with Leah Ardent
Isha Vela 0:00
Welcome to Devotional Anarchy, a podcast about intimate embodied leadership that is radically human, honest AF and thereby inherently disruptive to systems of disempowerment and disconnection. I’m Isha Vela, trauma psychologists, certified somatic practitioner, wealth wizard, licensed financial professional leadership coach, and intuitive business mentor. You’re here because you know self intimacy and self knowledge is the source of everything you want to create in your life. And that building safety and trust in your bodies would allows you to fully own and stored your energy in the direction of your desires. This season, get ready for deep dives into wealth building spirituality, emotional leadership, and human centered business with an activist twist. The conversations and tools shared in this podcast are your permission slip to manifest a life and business that lights your soul on fire and supports collective liberation. All right, I brought my mentor and friend Leah Ardent back on the podcast to talk about diversifying income streams and structuring ethical ecosystems for your business. And in case you don’t already know her, Leah is a multi passionate digital creator. And she’s also a witch. So whenever she says anything, I’m definitely listening. The first time I brought her on the podcast, you talked about the coaching industry going through a winter season, and that was at the end of 2021. And she was not wrong. Our conversation was so long, we ended up having to split it into two parts for easy absorption. And in one, in part one layup breaks down the specifics of how people were mis educated about coaching and business. We talk about owning a business as parents and how that compares to seven figure earners who are child free, or who have tons of support, right. And Les outlines exactly how to balance access to your offers and equity pricing so that you can approach your pricing structure based on your under the understanding you have your audience. That alone was a huge takeaway from me, I think you’re gonna mind lots of nuggets of wisdom here as well.
Speaker 1 2:15
So yeah, let’s talk about like the way to like make money. Yeah. Obviously, like the traditional ways people, like there’s so much poopoo in nine to five, you know, when all the sales copy leads in and then dropping down to five, get a nine to five, it’s no not a big deal. It’s not forever, having consistent income so that you can breathe so that you can think is an excellent place to start. Not to mention, there are a lot of skills that are cultivated in the nine to five space that you will use as a CEO later, the discipline, the networking, the shit eating, like all that stuff is incredibly valuable, right? People are afraid and they want to skip those steps. But there’s a lot to be learned at those steps including how you would and how you won’t manage when you are the one in charge. Yeah. So having a nine to five that can provide you with sustainable income and stability from which, you know, to grow is nothing to be ashamed of. Yes,
Isha Vela 3:17
yes. Many, many times to people Yeah. Totally.
Speaker 1 3:22
That’s that’s so that’s, that’s one I want to present because all these other things only work if you have the capital to invest in making them work. So securing capital. As the move you can say yourself, I’m going to work this job for the next 1224 months. And I can look people are free to do budgets, I can look and say these are my expenses. These are my like, you know the things that there’s expenses that you need, and then there’s like the things that you need to keep your sanity like I need my Netflix is it like an actual Is it a utility? I mean, no But am I probably going to end up on the news if I can just like zone out occasionally. So you know like what do you need to make life enjoyable? I need to go out to a restaurant just once a week I need to go out on Saturday afternoon have brunch this will keep me sane. So those divs and then what do you have like what do you have leftover? Yeah, yeah, what does that chunk look like? And how many times do you need to compound it in order to reach you know that next level and obviously your like emergency fund of like like yeah, they probably cars time and all of them needed to be services service so let your little stash for if something goes wrong,
Isha Vela 4:32
right Yes and I there’s I have podcast episodes where we talk about like having those financial foundations in place so like yeah, very very important. People really do need to know their numbers right what is their what is their like minimum requirement like with the Eric’s with their have to expenses like groceries and rent and or mortgage and all that kind of stuff? And then the the standard the expenses like Netflix, as you said, Yeah, apps Yeah,
Speaker 1 5:00
for sure. And yes. For me, it’s like help at my house, like, you know, I’ve made a lot of sacrifices to be in a place where like, where I can have those levels of health, you know, so, and then I really sacrifice, like they’re essential, you know, like the people in my life who serve those who play, you know, those roles are essential to me. You know, having a team, like you mentioned earlier is a big part of being able to expand and a team just means people that you pay regularly out. So you have to look at what kind of business model is going to be phase appropriate, there is no point of getting into a mastermind with a woman who has so much more money than you that she can’t even relate to the reality that you’re living in. Yeah. Because the things she’s going to recommend are not going to be fazed or, or reality appropriate for you. I would say find someone who’s done what you’re doing, if she came from privilege, and she’s privileged now, she’s never had to be where you are. And I’m not knocking the value of getting out of poverty mentality by being in, you know, enriched environments, I’m just saying you got to like, look at the nitty gritty of what it’s going to cost to build a machine like that. Yeah. So I think affiliate marketing is actually a very, like a fantastic way to learn from and watch an organization that’s already built while you cultivate the characteristics that will make you successful in those business rooms later. Okay, that makes that makes sense.
Isha Vela 6:48
I’m wanting to understand that a little bit more. Yeah,
Speaker 1 6:51
absolutely. So the the throne, right, the person who who sits on the throne, like the heavy head, let’s be real. They are probably managing a personal brand. Yes. A multi member team. Yes. And continuous launching of some kind, right? That means they’re probably multi-platform social media. Yes. Presence. So that means that they’ve got there’s a lot that goes into that. And people want to jump from zero to that. Yeah, no, no. It would be like if you went to the gym, and you were just like, look at these, like, there’s a bodybuilder he’s in my present. And you’re like, I’m gonna pick this up. And then you throw your back out. And that’s what happens. People have financially thrown their backs out. Yeah, yeah, correct, trying to lift something that they didn’t train for. And so I feel like affiliate marketing is a great way to have proximity and receive inspiration from someone who’s doing all of those things, right, so much to learn by observation.
Isha Vela 7:55
Such a good point, like listen to
Speaker 1 7:58
hear to see because like, there’s things you don’t know that you don’t know, you don’t know. That’s how much that’s how vast that that feature is. So as an affiliate, you can learn the lifting, of which is building an audience, email list management, selling branding rings, not all of those things, community management, learn. So learn that and not make yourself responsible for the expense of developing a product. Or fulfilling a product.
Isha Vela 8:31
Oh my gosh, yes.
Speaker 1 8:32
Crazy. That’s a whole other like, you don’t even get to see what a ball of wax, all of that shit is, yes, just get used to selling get used to building an audience get used to making the sale, recommending all of these things. And then when you have built the strength and fortitude that will allow that to happen, then you can talk about taking the big chair, you
Isha Vela 8:56
know that you make such a good point about the observation piece because it’s not just making the money from an affiliate product, whatever it happens to be right or a package or a summit or anything like that. It really is about it is that and it is observing this this person, this heavy hitters launch process, how they nurture how they manage a community, how they sell, it’s really been very enlightening for me and I hadn’t realized that that was what I was doing. As I was selling this thing that I really believed was amazing and was but that I was also learning in the process of selling that watching somebody else’s process and being almost being like a, like a co seller or a co partner in this right in this launch. And I Yes, that’s been wonderful for me and it helped me last year when I was like managing my PTSD. And it was it was such a relief not to have to come up with my own like create my own offer, but like to piggyback on somebody who was like, I love their stuff. It’s amazing, I can get behind it, and I’m buying it too. You know, like that felt really like a natural just to kind of a natural thing to do. And it felt manageable when my life was feeling hard to manage. Yeah,
Speaker 1 10:19
coming up with product as a prolific content and product creator, I can say at this point, like, it’s, it’s, it’s like sad right now as a matter of fact, I just, I just brought another person I’m trying to bring like two more people on because I need to be like McDonald I need like a like a conveyor belt. Right take thing I create and hand it to like my editor and like, for me like hey, can you just I can I have the capacity to do all of this copywriting myself, but I, you know, I Excuse me, I have the ability, I don’t have the capacity. And this has been like the big thing, like ability does not equal capacity just yet. You can do the copywriting to come up with the product and do all the things does not mean that you have the capacity to do all that you have children, you have a home, you may have a printer, or maybe you don’t have a partner, maybe you really don’t like so I think that’s the thing that that having a personal coaching brand is so much more about capacity than it is about ability. Yes. And with affiliate marketing, you can use, like, the capacity that you have, and not have to like, do all of the things because creating a product means first you have to come up with the idea, then you have to make it an actual product. Yes. And then you have to deliver it you have I mean, there’s so much it’s like payment portals and GDPR compliance, and constantly changing website, legal disclaimers, and insurance. And like I mean, all these things you have to have when you have a business, but it’s just like such a long list of administrative tasks where you could just like, her stuff is awesome. She’s amazing, I use it, it was good. Go get it like, like the stuff we already
Isha Vela 12:09
do. It’s stuff we already do. And then we get paid for it. What a freaking miracle.
Speaker 1 12:15
And to me, it actually feels like a very, like energetically equitable system. Because then the people who have because they’re lucky to be honest, that they’re different levels of privilege, different levels of ability, and instead of us saying okay, only if you have all this privilege and all this ability and all of this like, then you get to be successful, we can say, Actually, me as the person who has all of this ability and privilege and capacity, I can share some of the wealth that this privilege ability capacity affords me with other people, I can actually like be this conduit for generosity in a way that like and it’s and it’s for everybody. It’s like you get some I get some you expend energy, I expend energy I come up with and fulfill this thing. But for the love of God, I cannot go out and do all of the selling to that’s not fair to me as a creative, right. But right now you can do that piece. And because we worked together, yeah. Well, there’s like a beaut as there’s like a sacred symbiosis that happens in properly, ethically managed affiliate communities. Yes, my beautiful. Yeah,
Isha Vela 13:34
it feels very collective. It feels like, I feel like the place in me that loves being in community and relationships and groups of people. It really feels like, my love language is like, let’s let’s create something together. That is like, yeah, I don’t need anything else. But that I love creating with other people. And so that affiliate marketing model feels great, because it’s like, yeah, we’re doing this together. We’re selling this together, and it feels good. And I’m helping you and you’re helping me. Yeah. And whatever
Speaker 1 14:08
the thing is that we’re referring is like, it’s a quality.
Isha Vela 14:11
Right? It’s a win, win, win all around, yes.
Speaker 1 14:15
Whereas in some of the other models, I’ve seen some of the other pay to play models, it was like, there’s this main figure this brand head and they are charging an exorbitant amount to all these people. And those people have to justify the money that they’re investing in that environment. So they won’t have this like weird little culty clique, or they’re like, praising the person and encouraging other people to come in and it’s like, they’re just kind of spreading the dysfunction and like, normalizing it. And that to me, or like I, I’m, I mean, I understand that some people do it and maybe the advice that these people are giving us so fantastic that they need to have profit share But I like the affiliate model more because I feel like the lines are more clean. Yeah, in terms of profit being shared and spread between between people. It’s like you did a thing. It here’s the metric for it, like you sold 100 people this amount, so you times that times this amount, and that’s the amount of money you get not this. Let me get in your mastermind and pay you 15% of my sales, which may have nothing to do with anything that you told me especially is it? Is it my new sales since you started mentoring me? Because that would make sense, because that’s new money I made because of you. But you’re talking about 15% of the money I was making before I even started talking to you absolutely not. Get out my pockets. So like, I feel like that affiliate model is much more ethical than the profit sharing that I’ve seen. Yes,
Isha Vela 15:50
yes. Yes. Yes. Oh, my gosh, yes. Such a good point. And tell me about Tell me a little bit about the, the digital stuff, the digital products, right. Yeah. So the digital, this is I want to, I want you to share sort of like what’s coming down the pipeline for you? Right, so that people can people can, like get on board? Yeah. Because there’s some really amazing stuff coming down. Yes, they’re
Speaker 1 16:20
really amazing stuff coming down. So I have wanted to be a writer my whole life. And when I was little, you know, it was like, Don’t be writers don’t, you know, don’t make any money. Artists don’t make money, you know. And I wanted to go in marketing since I was in like high school. And I just felt like that was the same for me. And I was, you know, I was kind of dissuaded I ended up going to school for nursing, because that was like, it’s stable. Like, you’ll always have a job. You know, you’ll always have a profession. And that was very true. And I love nurses and I have the absolute utmost respect for them. However, I don’t have you’ve met me, I don’t have the personality. I don’t, I don’t have what we call bedside manner. I don’t. And so I went from the like healing into like marketing because I spoke healer. So I was like, Yeah, able to translate for healers and spiritualist who couldn’t quite figure out how to sell and market and make clear value propositions because the work that they do is so like ephemeral. And so over the years, I’ve created just this library of of tons of informations every everything that I everything that I’ve learned on my journey, I have thought share in a way that makes sense, because a lot of the reason that people like to overcharge is by making their knowledge feel obscure. You can only get to see it and you know, it’s even like with medical stuff because I went to school for that unlabeled if you understand Latin, like you understand that they all that means is that you have an inflamed this that they told you. But I said it to you in Latin. And so now you’re like, Fine, you said is I’m gonna data and it’s like, no, you have inflammation. So we could treat this any number of ways that would speak to inflammation. But like when you when you shroud things in mystery, then you can manipulate people and this price is so yeah, I’m no shade. But that’s just like a fact. So like, I try to explain business concepts and personal development concepts, concepts, and manifestation all concepts every concept I come across, I try and like simplify and like streamline it for actual
Isha Vela 18:36
use. Yeah, you’re really breaking it down.
Speaker 1 18:39
I’m all I love the like, you know, I got a Scorpio I’m a Scorpio. So I’m like, let’s break it down. Let’s let’s cut it open and lay it all kind of open. Yeah. And I just decided that I wanted to start sharing all of that not just to my mastermind clients, because I’ve been sharing this information in high ticket masterminds and in mastermind groups for years and years and years. But there are other people who could benefit from that information. It’s just starting to feel how do we talk about improving the economy? How do we talk about women having more opportunity, if I can’t get them the information and the simple fact is, if I have to do everything one to one, if I have to do everything, one to 20, even I can’t I can only reach so many people I know. I feel her. I’ve been her. Like when I feel the expanse between myself 10 or 12 years ago, and now I know there’s a woman somewhere who has a heart to help people. She just doesn’t know which step to take first. And so creating this journey through information products, where someone can like grow and know and if they are so inclined, monetize Though that information that has been my answer to the, to the issue of access.
Isha Vela 20:09
Yeah, fact, right, energy and impact, right. So that’s like energy efficiency, and maximum impact.
Speaker 1 20:17
Maximum. It’s been amazing. I put my first digital product offer out there is actually the first work that I ever channeled in. It’s called the the mind alignment protocol. Not to be confused with another one of a similar name, not that one. Um, I think I had one first, I don’t know. But it was amazing for me, because when I first offered, I offered it into group, I think I did either like four or $500 per person to get in and go through this several week. Protocol. I’ve done it one on one with people. And like $1,500 containers, and then like super higher and containers, where I’ve made it accessible. But by creating a digital product I lived with like a it was like a business in a box. It was like all of the things that you need to take someone to go through the protocol yourself, yes. To then offer it potentially as a service, to market it to promote it. Like I gave them everything. And I had women coming to me saying, Oh, my God, thank you. I don’t have the time. The money or quite frankly, even the ability, like the ability to YES to write to think structurally as well as esoterically. They’re like I have I do not have the I don’t have the ability. Yeah, create this right now. And not to mention that it cost me many 1000s of dollars to
Isha Vela 21:45
create that. Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 21:48
They don’t have that either, right. But they’re like, and I made that I think when I made it available, I think it’s now like 222 or something like that. So it’s like, if you have the LLC, like you got your insurance and all your little things together all your fundamentals. I’ve had people who are like, I can go take this and run it right now. I’ve had women coming to me who run nonprofits who are like, Oh, I treat, you know, immigrant women who are dealing with like their migration trauma, I can run them through this, this protocol to help kind of like deal with some of the thematic stuff. I can run them through this. And I can just take it to my community right now. Because they paid 222 for it. People $22 I have made their investment bank.
Isha Vela 22:30
That’s amazing. That is amazing. It’s insane.
Speaker 1 22:34
So I was like, oh, obviously, I’m gonna do more of this. And I still, you know, I’m still capable of serving the woman who’s like, I want to make a multi six figure program. Can you build out a custom course on a campaign? Yes, I can totally serve that woman. But most people are not that woman. Yeah. Yeah. So let’s get something in their hands. Because we have a world that’s literally caught fire. Let’s try and make as much information and enlightenment available to whoever, whoever ever wants it. Because it serves all of us to get that out there to light as many sparks in the human heart and mind as possible. So to me, like, it just feels it just feels so good. I mean, honestly, just like I’m trying not to get emotional, because it just feels so good to be able to get that stuff out there. So yeah, all development and entrepreneurial development doesn’t become something that’s only available to the super rich.
Isha Vela 23:33
Yeah, yeah, I know, as you’re, as you’re saying that I just really feel the the, the balance between what you were saying before the equitability and accessibility and really, it’s such as we balanced because you know, that these, you know, the mind alignment protocol and these other digital products, they’re, they’re value heavy. They’re lower cost, right? accessible. And because of how its disseminated through an affiliate model, it just gets to people, it gets to more people, right, which benefits you economically right, because it’s like that’s leveraging other people to do the marketing for you. And the person doing the marketing also gets paid. Like for me that is like I love it. It’s just that is something that I’m really passionate about. And you know, I’m going to be doing more of this year and beyond because I love it I love you know what, I’ve always loved cheerleading. I used to be a cheerleader in high school. And for me affiliate marketing is a little bit like cheerleading like I love this stuff. It’s so cool I love this person check it out, you know, it’s like that feels like it’s just right up my alley anyway.
Speaker 1 24:50
Yeah, well, I’m to be honest, not all of my products were like affiliate some of them were straight reseller where exactly you have commercial license to take this and do it with your clients, so they paid me one time. Yes, that particular one because it like that one is on my heart I talked about, I talked a lot about bringing things to the altar, because this is the way I was raised that you, you take your first fruits. And so for me that was like and remains in my ecosystem that is among my first fruits because it was gifted to me as a transmission. Yeah. And I wanted to keep the spirit of that. You know, for that one, as I talked like, for me, I could leverage other streams of income enough to make that one, I could take kind of a hit on that. And because I that was that was a mission oriented products. But I can look at my numbers and go, Well, this is my margin driven product. My margin driven product allows the mission driven product
Isha Vela 25:46
to exist. There you go, there you go.
Speaker 1 25:49
That’s the like, that’s how it all comes. balances
Isha Vela 25:52
out. Right? You’re not You’re not heavy on the on the margin one, you’re not heavy on the mission. One they work together, they work in tandem, one feeds the other.
Speaker 1 26:03
Yeah. Which is sometimes neglected in the rhetoric. Yes,
Isha Vela 26:07
yes, thank you for this conversation. This was amazing. And I’m gonna, you know, for the, for those of you listening, I’m gonna include all of lairs links, social and otherwise in the show notes so that you can follow her and get access to some of these to some of these some of these products that are just so amazing, and that you can get on our list and, and learn more about what’s coming down the pipeline, because it’s really exciting. But
Speaker 1 26:38
I mean, if you’re a mom, like, yeah, that’s like, that’s the thing that changed for me. Yeah. In my business. When I started my coaching business, one of my kids was living with the dad in a different state. So I saw him on holidays, which is every parent will tell you, that’s completely different thing than having somebody in your house all the time. Right. So and then my daughter was not born yet. Yeah. So having had a child really changes the type of business model that is feasible. So I think for all these assiduous ambitious moms out here, don’t feel like you have to rely on a personal brand. Yes, solely for all of the income, like you got to look at how the market fluctuates, it doesn’t make sense to put all your eggs in one basket or even just your own basket, like usually, how do you have you know, the states a minimum of seven, like seven is what it takes to be rich, but like, a minimum of three so that if there’s, like there’s contraction in the coaching industry, but like, for me, I’m, you know, I’m in the AI space. AI is popping all the way off right now. Like, it’s only 30% of the population even knows anything about it. So it’s like, wide open market. So like, you’ve got to keep your options open. Yeah, it keeps the income flowing. And there are there’s nine to five affiliate digital products, personal brand, baseless brand. There’s a lot of options out there for for moms who want to make money, and I better still
Isha Vela 28:12
write that are still congruent with what, what they’re passionate about who they are, like their values, right? things that they’re passionate about, maybe they already developed an audience and a following, right. So it’s in alignment with that, too. Yes, yes. All those pieces come together. Yeah, this
Speaker 1 28:33
is what we’re doing in my course. Right. Now, the last part of my course is all about, I have a course called intuitive AI. And it’s all about the last piece is all about monetization, because we’re talking about how to create with digital brought like, with AI. So we’re like talking about digital products. But then people are like, look at a digital product would be congruent with what I already do. And my audience and I’m like, Look, if you need somebody to help you figure out how to monetize an existing audience. I’m your girl people they aren’t they just don’t like that most people just don’t like they don’t realize it’s like, right, it’s right in front of. Yes. So like, I had a client who had five kids and homeschools all of all of them. And she was selling not edibles, like, like edibles, but she was selling things that you eat, right. And she for many, many complex reasons moved away, not the least of which they had personal health stuff, which meant she couldn’t be as involved in her store because she had like a shop and so she had to go in and be present. And all of a sudden she had all this health stuff. She couldn’t do that. And I was like, big girl, like you have homeschooled five intelligent, kind, beautiful, contributing children. Why aren’t you targeting that market? Like here are some products we came up with a list of products like these are some products you could affiliate for that are right in line with that market and here’s some types of products you could create to support Are other homeschooling moms? Yes, that are already or moms that are part of your because even whether you’re homeschooling or not you still trying to educate your kids, right? Nobody’s like, oh, like, let’s make this get as done as possible. So like, as like you have moms in your audience, why not? Let’s like diversify into some educational support materials and just like lightly like, monetize that audience, low costs, I’m talking about stuff that’s under $50. It’s cake. Like, yeah.
Isha Vela 30:27
Amazing, amazing. I hope that, that listeners are getting so much out of this conversation, that their minds are exploding, because I’m already seeing like, I’m already having like, this vision of like, oh, all of the things that are possible here. And that are, you know, not does is they’re not sort of like, yes, they’re creative, but they’re like, when you leverage AI, for example, you have that support to create the things, right, and then put it out into the world.
Speaker 1 30:58
Are you kidding me? Right now? You’re creating nothing. This is okay, I have one more thing, and I’m gonna be alright, like, one more thing. So if you thought because I did a post about the $1,500 a month Voxer coaching? Yeah, you understand, you can talk to a robot for $20 a month. $20. And it has the whole internet’s and brains, but you pay somebody $1,500. And I’m not saying there aren’t coaches worth $1,500. And there’s one I know, in particular, who does somatic healing. And when you’re at the level that you have that, definitely give it to her because she will change your life. But he’s talking about a business coach. Though, like, there’s you I in my class, right now, I’m teaching people how to essentially take an investment of $20 in tough $200 Give me $200 A month in tech, and 10x that easily, easily. And in some cases, 20 through either services or product creation. Yeah. And the market is like wide open and only getting, like, wider and wider and wider. And it favors the brave, and it favors the early adopters. And like now is the time if you’re a mom who wants to make money to figure out how you don’t do it. What’s your hustle? Let’s get it. There’s five figure side hustles out there that you haven’t even drempt up because you’re trying to follow somebody else’s model of success instead of your own.
Isha Vela 32:29
Hello. That’s it. Mic drop. Yeah. All right. Let’s get it.
Speaker 1 32:41
My daughter says, my toddler, one of the first thing I’m the worst mom and my toddler does, I’ll be like, Amber, and she’ll go. Ah. So yeah, let’s get it
Isha Vela 32:54
on Monday. All right. Thank you so much, Leah, for always bringing like, truth and cutting through the bullshit. And just like, the like the balm of like, I don’t know, it’s always such a like a relief to speak with you because you’re just like you cut through that all of the illusion and all of that the manipulation that we talked about at the beginning of this of this session, so thank you.
Unknown Speaker 33:21
It’s great. Tauern truth. Exactly. That’s the new direction. Yes,
Isha Vela 33:25
vibrates at the highest frequency for sure. Thank you for listening to today’s episode. Remember to hit the subscribe button to get notified of new episodes dropping on the new and full moons of each month. And if you haven’t already, leave us a five star review on iTunes to make sure that everyone who needs this transmission receives it. Until the next episode I’m sending you fierce fierce love.