Her local yoga studio suffered, so she 4x’d her revenue by taking her business online!

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the case study today. I am beyond excited to dive into this one because I know so many of you are able to relate.

I am so excited to dive in.

The beautiful thing about our Authority Accelerator program is how supportive our community is. So a lot of our members are here showing love to Ally who I'm going to introduce her in just a second. So let's dive into exactly who I'm going to be speaking to today and what we're going to be talking about.

So if you don't know, I have a program called the Authority Accelerator and it's essentially where we help experts take their knowledge and their skills and their experience and their story, package it into highly scalable online courses and scale it completely organically. Apply now at sunnylenarduzzi.com/apply.

Let's get into Ally, the amazing Ally. So this is the incredible story of how Ally went from teaching in person at her yoga studio when COVID hit to building a thriving online business that has generated over six figures from scratch over the last 18 months.

So here are just a few key highlights that we're going to dig into today and we're going to also be teaching this or treating this as a training today as well and we're going to be sharing some really solid info if you are at a place where you're ready to take your business online, you're ready to pivot, or you're just ready to create a highly scalable online course business.

Ally has made over $100,000 in the first 18 months of launching her first and only online course using our method

In the past, she was making between $3,500 to $4,500 a month and now is generating 4x that each month with her online course which is so exciting. She's created her evergreen sales machine that is bringing in between $10 to $16,000 a month consistently, completely organically, no Facebook ads, no nothing, and went from 1,000 to 40,000 YouTube subscribers using our method and she just took a two-week vacation with her entire family and still was able to just bring in just under $20,000 last month with her course.

I am so excited to dive into this with Ally and we're going to be touching on three tactic driven things that you can start implementing for your business. Number one is shifting your mindset to create an online business. If you have something that's offline and you've only ever done it offline, how do you navigate actually taking it online? I know Ally can speak to this a lot.

The simplicity of really creating a signature niche and offer and the correct order of events. So making sure that if you're going to tackle creating an online course, you're not doing things backwards and wasting your time.

So without further ado, let's bring in Ally.

Hi.

Ally Boothroyd:

Hi.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

I'm so happy to have you. Thank you so much for taking the time to be here. I'm so happy for you. Your story is really inspiring and I think especially during these times, it's hope for a lot of entrepreneurs out there who have been hit really hard in the last few years and have offline businesses and are really not sure where to go.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

So I thought that would be a good place to start is to work backwards and I would love for you to share your journey and your story as an entrepreneur.

Ally Boothroyd:

I've been an entrepreneur essentially for over 14 years. I started out in web design and graphic design. But after I had been practicing yoga for just over a decade, I went to Kripalu and did my teacher training and then I was very lucky to be able to be mentored there and to assist there with yoga nidra retreats and teacher trainings and things like that.

And when I created my yoga studio, it was almost like... Opportunities just started landing in my lap like crazy and it just grew very easily without much effort whereas my other businesses were more of a struggle. And so it was like, "Oh, this is what I'm really meant to be doing." If I follow the breadcrumbs from the universe, everything was rewarding me for teaching yoga, sharing yoga nidra, guiding people in teacher trainings, all of these things.

So for the past almost a decade, that's what I've been doing is completely just yoga, yoga nidra, yoga retreats, yoga classes, everything to do with all different types of yoga to aerial yoga, stand up paddleboard yoga. I can teach all of the things. I'm one of those people that have taken so many trainings over the years.

But yoga nidra was always the most popular thing. And the people that really would fill my programs and those types of things were people that were wanting yoga nidra. That was this thing that can really soothe and calm the nervous system. I like to say it's like yoga for your nervous system. We love that. Yeah.

Yes. So that was really the evolution. It happened naturally that I was led to teaching yoga and that's what was just working.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Yeah. Which I love and I think that's a big sort of takeaway and something that I say often... I always say reduce the friction. So reduce the friction between your success and your idea because so many people will think like, "Oh, I saw this other person doing this thing and they're doing really well. So I guess I'll try and do that too." But it doesn't actually come naturally to you and your best business idea always comes from something that you're innately skilled at and is your unique genius.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

But oftentimes, we have blind spots to it. We take it for granted. We think everybody in the world can do it when that's just not the truth and I know that this is where you started. And so you're like, "Okay, yoga is the thing. I'm going to be an entrepreneur, I'm going to build a business around yoga." But even then, you open up your local studio and then what happens?

Ally Boothroyd:

Well, COVID. Yeah, this is about almost a decade into having my yoga studio and guiding and leading people in yoga and I've got my YouTube channel but it's pretty small. And then COVID hits and I go from having a very consistent income that I can rely on to having my studio be shut down for six months and then consecutively shut down five times in a row right now. I'm shut down currently, I'm currently shut down right now.

That financial stress was very difficult, especially at the beginning, because when COVID hit, I was in my third trimester with my baby boy. I had all of these yoga retreats. So I lead these weekend yoga retreats that bring in the most money out of anything that I do in my business and I had them scheduled for almost every other weekend leading up to the birth of my son because I was going to save up a few $1,000 to just go on mat leave and be able to just be off with him.

And so essentially, instead of that happening, my studio was shut down and I brought in not even my consistent income that I was used to but nothing on top of that nothing at all.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Right.

Ally Boothroyd:

So I tried to just trust the process and trust that I was going to be okay. But essentially, I just slowly went into debt, or I should say quickly, I quickly went into debt because it's the fastest I've ever spent money on a credit card like that before just to survive.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Yeah.

Ally Boothroyd:

And then birthed my baby in June, continued to go into debt, and I was also injured from that and was on bed rest and stuff.

And then in August, I had been following you for a while, I had been implementing your YouTube tips, and my channel had actually become monetized in March. So I was bringing in the smallest little amounts of money like $1 a day, $2 a day.

But I could see that everything I was implementing that you really knew what you were talking about and I really trusted how thorough you are with everything. You really know what you're talking about and I've felt so such a strong pull to join this program that even though I had already gone like $30,000 into debt in six months, I'm going to credit card. I put the whole thing on my credit card because I had nothing else to do.

I just couldn't stop thinking about it. I knew that this was potentially going to be the thing that turned things around and was able to get me out of debt and be able to support my little family again and be able to get me sharing what I care about with the world again and making an impact as opposed to just being shut down all the time. I had no idea how much longer this was going to last and I knew I couldn't just keep doing what I was doing.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

I would love to dig into that a little bit more because I was just talking about this with my husband.

I remember... Obviously, I think we all remember March 2020 and being like, "Ah, this will be over in a few months," or like, "This will be over in a couple weeks. We're going to be fine. We'll still be able to take that trip, we'll still be able to do all these things." Obviously, two years later, and it's like, "Ah, I don't know." This has lasted a lot longer than anybody anticipated and it's been in so many iterations and waves and all these things.

I'm curious for you now, hindsight 2020, when you think back to that time, when you were thinking about investing in the Authority Accelerator, $30,000 in debt, I remember you actually shared this in the Facebook group and you're like, "I have tears in my eyes sharing this right now," because I've never told you...

You'd never told me your situation when you did enroll and to know, just had a baby, $30,000 in debt, yoga studios shut down, no income coming in. Yet, you still made the decision to enroll.

Can you imagine? Paint a picture if you didn't make that decision, if you didn't decide to enroll at that time.

Ally Boothroyd:

I'm so glad I followed my gut. It was like I couldn't ignore it. I just had to follow that. I knew that I would at least make back what I invested. And I felt so confident in you, in your ability to teach and the quality you create. I just knew that it was going to work out and that I could easily trust the process. And if I hadn't have done that, who knows how much farther in debt I would be.

Ally Boothroyd:

Right now, I'm debt free because of the program.

I was able to pay it off within... Go from being over $30,000 in debt that year 2020 to making more than six figures in 2021 and being able to pay that all off and feel like my financial future is in good hands. I feel like I... I don't feel stressed anymore.

And the way that you teach about passive income and the evergreen sales machine, all of these things, they just all make such good sense and they work so well.

Right now, my YouTube channel is bringing in $6,000 on its own, right? So even if I take a month off and I don't do any selling of my programs, but they just... I actually don't have to sell my program. It's an application. I guide a yoga nidra teacher training and so people have to apply to get into my program. The applications are just rolling in constantly and all I have to do is accept people into my program.

It's like I don't really need to take a break from that. It's just so easy.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Oh my God. Can we just play that on repeat?

Ally Boothroyd:

It's so easy to just read applications and accept people. Right?

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

It's just so easy.

Ally Boothroyd:

It's so easy for me now. Yeah.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Oh, that makes my heart so happy.

Ally Boothroyd:

And you know how difficult it was for me before. I'm sure we're going to talk about that, how my Facebook ads and my freebie and all that stuff that I was doing.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think it's very important that we do highlight that and talk about it because unfortunately, your story is not unique in that sense and I do want to dig into that.

Before we dig into the tactical things that we want to go over today, first of all, I just want to say thank you so much for everyone who's here. If you're enjoying this and you're getting value from it, please do hit that like button and please do hit the share button so we can reach more people with Ally's incredible story.

Because it really is so inspiring. I do find myself every time we have these conversations that I'm talking to my clients. First of all, I don't look at you all as clients, I look at you as this very creepy extended part of my family and I care so immensely and as you're talking about that, my eyes were watering and I was like, "Not again, Sunny. Stop crying."

I just met your son and what a full circle moment that you're pregnant when all this is going down and now you have this healthy, beautiful family and things have just changed so much for you and I'm just so over the moon happy for you.

Ally Boothroyd:

Yeah.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

So I just want to say I'm so proud.

Ally Boothroyd:

I'm going to cry at some point, too. I know.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

It's okay. It's a safe space to do. So our teams, we're big on emotions.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

For everyone here, I'd mentioned this earlier, but if you are interested in the Authority Accelerator and you want to speak to a real human being, you can do so by clicking here to apply. So you can join Ally and I on the inside and I can creepily be very connected to you too.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Yeah, you have.

So okay, so let's dig into what I mentioned earlier which really the tactical part of this. So the first thing I want to talk about is shifting your mindset to create an online business because like you said, you were only ever used to doing this offline. And my goodness, we speak to a lot of people and we've coined the phrase terminal uniqueness because so many people come to us and they're like, "Pfff. My offer is very unique and very complicated and there's no way it could ever be a course." And I'm like, "Try me."

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

So let's dig into that for you because it is a big shift to think about an offline business, you had a yoga studio, to coming online. Walk me through that. What that was like for you?

Ally Boothroyd:

Well, I definitely could never lead a yoga teacher training or yoga nidra teacher training, any of my teacher trainings online that was absolutely ingrained in my brain because it had to be live, it had to be in the group, it had to be in the space, it had to be in the community. We had to have that safe space, the sangha, where we could all connect and share and have that level of trust with one another. There was just so many reasons why, for me, it was so important that all of that had to be live and in person.

Ally Boothroyd:

And so when I was thinking about creating online offerings, it was always these little mini yoga courses that I could create for people or these little like 10-day journeys or these super small little eight-week workshops, those type of things. It was nothing like these big in-depth trainings that I do live with my people in real life.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

In real life.

Ally Boothroyd:

But what I learned with my yoga nidra teacher training is that the impact [online] can be just as powerful, if not more. Yeah. So, I was dead wrong basically.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

I was dead wrong.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Where do you think that stems from? Where do you think it stems from to be like, "I could only ever do this offline?"

Ally Boothroyd:

Well, it was the only thing I ever knew and I think that I had this idea that it was going to feel so disconnected to watching someone on a screen teach a lesson versus being in a room with someone.

Ally Boothroyd:

The funny thing is people get so much more value out of these online teacher trainings that I've created because they can rewatch the lessons again and again for life and the mentoring continues weekly, every week forever. They get so much more value out of it and the level of teaching that's coming out of these trainings is higher than in our...

Ally Boothroyd:

Because in those live situations, you get the lesson, you retain as much as you can, and then you have to somehow integrate it, and then go back out and teach it into the world.

Ally Boothroyd:

This is just far more easily integrated for people I'm finding. They can come back and rewatch the lessons, they can come back and redo the homework, they can come back and practice their practice teaches again, they can come on the live calls and get mentoring continuously with what's coming up with their students, with anything.

Ally Boothroyd:

So the value of this online training, it's so much more than my live trainings even because a live training has a container of time and then it's over and then your access to the teacher disappears and all you're left with is your manual and your notes.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Yes.

Ally Boothroyd:

Right?

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

And then you're left to your own devices to figure it out as well.

Ally Boothroyd:

Yeah.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Yeah.

Ally Boothroyd:

Yeah.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

If you were to give yourself advice, when you were in that headspace of like, "No way," because there's people here right now who are like, "Pfft, I could never bring my business online. I could never shift my business online, pivot online." But maybe their business is struggling, maybe they've been affected by the pandemic and they're interested, but they're like, "Oh, no, I'm terminally unique. There's no way I can do this." So what would you say to that version of yourself?

Ally Boothroyd:

Well, I actually... First, I would say everything is figureoutable.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Yeah.

Ally Boothroyd:

Because I love that quote, and it really is yes. And I actually had to go through that mind shift twice because I brought it online and really trusted that the testimonials were incredible and people were raving about the transformation and the chorus and all of that. But what I was doing was I was doing pop lunch after pop lunch after... Because I was like, "No, I need to be teaching it live the whole time and they need to be moving through the container together."

Ally Boothroyd:

And so I had to have a whole another mind shift when I went to take it evergreen and people were going to be moving through at their own pace and how was I going to be able to recreate that in that way.

Ally Boothroyd:

So I think just trusting that everything is figureoutable was so key because I had a lot of resistance to that part of the process too.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Totally. I hear you. And I think it's ironic because I think the only way to move through that is to have the proof and to build the confidence for yourself that it's possible.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

And one thing that I always say to people is I'm like, "Literally, try me," because we've over 600 niches inside of the Authority Accelerator so we have people who teach off ice hockey training for goalies and she made $30,000 launching her program and she'd never done this really online. We have people who teach people how to build wooden boats, dancing, art, so many things where you're like, "Oh, no, this has to be in person," fitness, etc.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

But when you think about all of the skill sets in the world and all the things that we're searching for online and how the world has shifted to education online because of the circumstances, it's doable. And I think it's important to just look for the proof and like you said earlier, look for the breadcrumbs that it is possible.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

We've talked about... There's over 100 testimonials for our program of people who've been able to do this so you can either... I like to say don't set your vision for the future based off your current reality because as you mentioned earlier, it was the only thing I'd ever done so how could I possibly imagine being able to bring this online. So sometimes, you have to set your vision for the future based off of the proof of other people and what they've been able to do.

Ally Boothroyd:

Yes.

And even now just the fact that I'm able to have people apply to my training from all over the world like Rosalie, she's in Japan and I just saw Alexi and she's in the U.K. or in France right now. It's people from everywhere now are able to take my training as opposed to before it was... I live in a very small town so people come from different... People will actually travel to come and learn with me and things like that, but there's only so far someone can travel.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Yeah, exactly.

Ally Boothroyd:

Right?

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Yeah, absolutely.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Yeah, I couldn't agree more and I love that you are now proof to other people of the thing that you were feeling resistance towards. It's beautiful. So it's a total full circle moment.

I would love to dive into the next piece of this which is the simplicity of your signature niche and offer. One thing that we had spoken about was when you were thinking about bringing your business online, you had a preconceived notion of what it was going to be and you also had a really hard time thinking of something that could be a higher ticket program because that was just not really in your realm.

So let's talk about, okay, we're in the program now and now you're like, "Okay, I need to start constructing and figuring out how I want to formulate my offer." And you're following along in our exercises. How are you feeling? And how did you start to get to the place where you're like, "Ding, ding, ding, that's it?"

Ally Boothroyd:

Well, like I said, leading any sort of teacher training was off the table for me when I came into it. So I had no idea what I was going to create because I know that yoga nidra is something that people do travel to me for and that it's something that people want to learn from me. However, I also teach all of these others different styles of yoga and I'm trained in so many things and I was thinking of all of these different offerings in my head and I had no idea of was I going to create a program.

My history is that I had debilitating anxiety attacks and a panic disorder and insomnia and all these things. I was thinking, "Am I going to create a program that's going to help people with that? Am I going to create a program that helps people with insomnia?" Because I help a lot of people on my channel with insomnia and I know all of these great tools and tricks of different specific restorative yoga postures that can help with insomnia.

I was going all over the place with it, all over the place. And I was thinking, "How can I really charge lots of money for creating one of these programs? And what is this program even going to be?" I was interviewing people which is part of the process to do these 50 calls and I felt like I was just getting so many mixed messages.

It's funny because we talked about this earlier, but people would come to me and ask me, "Where did you get trained in yoga nidra? I want to lead yoga nidra like you do." It's the thing that gets thousands of views on my channel versus a couple of 100, like 20,000 views versus 100 or 200, and my other videos, that sort of thing.

People would come to me and ask me where I was trained and I've been trained in so many different ways and my original mentor doesn't teach anymore. He's moved on to something else and that's where I got the majority of my style of teaching. I've got all these other trainings that I've done that I could point people towards. So you know, "I've done this one or that one or..." I can't give them something specific so that they're going to be able to guide like I do. It's a very unique way or style, I would say.

So, I have this ability to guide people how to do this in person but I was very resistant to taking it online and it was sitting right there in front of me the whole time.

And when I started talking to you on one of the mentor calls, you were like, "You just need to do that. You already have all these raving testimonials from your teacher trainings where people are seeing their life changing, transformative, all of these things and you've already got the social proof. You just need to take that on online. That's should be your thing."

Ally Boothroyd:

There were so many clues. The evidence was all around me and I was still resisting it.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

It's a funny thing we do, isn't it? And then we started following that, that's when really things started to unlock and it's when you were able to really dive into creating this program that...

I think the big hang up people have when they create a program is they think about it in terms of money instead of value and you're talking about something that people have invested and will invest thousands of dollars into trying to figure out in other ways. And therefore if you can get them the result that they're looking for, efficiently and effectively, and get the value that they're seeking, then you're charging based on the value of the outcome, which is well worth it versus thinking about it in terms of expensive, inexpensive etc.

Because when you position it that way, you're going to attract people who are looking for a quick fix, you're going to attract people who are looking for a cheap option, and generally, if somebody's looking for a cheap option, they're also not the type of person who's going to really devote themselves to getting results.

One thing that you and I talked about is the community you've now built and I mean, it shows because we have people here who are part of your community who showed up to support you today. And so what has that been like for you to wake up and be like, "I freaking love my clients. I love what I do?"

Ally Boothroyd:

This is going to make me cry.

Ally Boothroyd:

It's the most important thing in my life, for sure, asides from my babies, my family. There's nothing that's more fulfilling than this right now, the people inside of my training, the impact that it's having on their lives, the impact it's having on the people that they go out into the world and share this with once they get their certification.

The community, they continue to come back and share how this is affecting their students and their classes and changing people's lives, people that aren't able to sleep or people that are having anxiety or people that are recovering from long COVID or recovering from a concussion or having all these different types of neurological issues.

Ally Boothroyd:

There are so many things that yoga nidra can help people with. It really is such an incredible tool to catch up on rest deficits and sleep deficits and there's just so many people that it's helping in the world right now and all I have to do is log into my YouTube channel and see that the dozens of comments a day that I get right now from people saying,

"This is my lifeline. Your channel is life changing for me right now I'm practicing with you every single day."

And the stories that they tell me. They tell me these stories and I cry several times a day. I tell... My husband will come in and I'll be sitting at my computer crying again and he's like, "Why? What now?" and I'm like, "This single mother and she's in a homeless shelter with her brand new baby and she's telling me her whole life story and how my yoga nidra is her... I'm her person right now and that is getting these free videos from me on YouTube that are just helping her through."

I get comments like that all day, every day now. All the people that I get to help, it feels so meaningful and it's so fulfilling and I'm just so happy that I'm able to my...

So in yoga nidra, we have this word called sankalpa, which is essentially like your dharma, it's your life's purpose, and mine is I'm creating a peaceful impact on the world and because of the authority accelerate, it feels like that peaceful impact that I'm able to help other people feel peace and feel calm, that's just spreading rapidly right now and exponentially because of this program.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Thank you for that.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

And also, I feel the same way as you do. That's why I get so excited to have these conversations with my clients because this is why I wake up in the morning, this is why I created the program because I know there's so many people out there with an expertise but they lack the ability to turn it into a business and they lack the strategy to reach more people.

But that's why the online space is so amazing because you've now taken your expertise and your impact and you've been able to spread it globally. Like you just said, you have people here who are watching this that are in Japan, for example, and you never would have even met them or cross paths if you didn't have the ability to go online and create a bigger impact. So it really is the most amazing thing.

I wanted to share something that you actually told me offline which I think is a common theme between everyone that we work with who sees these incredible results is that you want to help people and that's why you came into the program. That was your baseline. You were like, "I don't even know in terms of the numbers of what I want to achieve. My intention is just that, to create peace and to really help people."

And I will say for myself and I've talked about this, I've joked about it, when I started my business, I didn't know what the heck I was doing. I just was like, "Oh, I can go online, I can start making these tutorials and I can help more people." I didn't know what a call to action was, I didn't know an email list was, I don't know anything.

I really do believe that when you set a clear intention of making an impact, the income inevitably is going to follow and that's what's happened for you and I think is so beautiful.

One thing I wanted to touch on and recap in terms of the simplicity of your signature niche and offer because I know it can feel overwhelming. I know trying to find your niche and trying to nail this down can feel so overwhelming.

A couple of things that Ally said that are really important to listen to is what are people asking you for, what comes up often for you in terms of what people need your help with, what they're asking you for. That's a big clue as to what you can create your program around.

Another thing you mentioned is when people would ask you for yoga nidra training, you'd be like, "Oh, I don't really know where to send you. I don't have somebody I can send you to." So that's a huge clue because that allowed you to really fill the gap and fill the space that you knew was missing at that time.

And using your existing content. Now, we have a lot of clients who start from absolute zero, have no audience, have no following etc. You happen to have content out in the world and you notice that the content that was making the biggest impact and getting these really in depth comments was the content around yoga nidra training. And so that was a huge clue as well.

So if you have existing content, a content that is generally making the biggest impact and getting the most response could be a huge clue in the direction you go as well.

Now, I want to talk about this piece because Lord knows, this is one of my greatest pet peeves in life. So I'm just going to label this doing things in the right order because-

Ally Boothroyd:

Which to me felt backwards at first.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Yes, absolutely.

This is really step three of our tactical training here. So we've gone over shifting your mindset to go from an offline to an online business, the simplicity of your signature offer and niche. Now I want to talk about the correct order of events because how most other programs and courses teach how to build your own signature offer, niche, and program is to work in reverse. And it is so unhelpful and it is leading a lot of people down a financial path that they can't get out of.

And so I want you to share your story prior to joining the Authority Accelerator because at that time, you had tried a bunch of other things. So what did that look like for you? And what did you learn when you came in?

Ally Boothroyd:

Yeah, so my dad was an entrepreneur. I knew I had this entrepreneurial spirit but I didn't quite know what I was doing. So I have taken other trainings. I took B-School, I took another training, I think it was around $2,000 USD that was about launching an online program and what I had essentially learned was to create a freebie, which I had my 45-minute yoga nidra that people could download, and push it to Facebook ads, and get people on your list and then create content weekly, and then send it to them every week, and then eventually pitch them your program.

I was doing all of those steps. But yet, none of these programs that I was taking to learn how to do online actually taught me how to create my program or figure out what my program was going to be.

So I was doing all the steps to lead people to this program that didn't exist and that I had no idea what it was going to be and I was totally the type of person that was going to have to create a program out of thin air in my brain, film the entire thing, get it all edited, put it all in a classroom, and then market it to people and hope to God that somebody was going to buy it.

And so that was the path that I was on when I had-

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

And how much money did you make when you were on that path?

Ally Boothroyd:

$0. In fact, I was losing $5 a day on Facebook ads.

Ally Boothroyd:

And then I just gave up eventually because I'm a stay at home mom as well as everything else and there was too much perfectionism getting in the way and I didn't understand how these people who are downloading this free yoga nidra were going to translate to this completely different offer that I had come up with in my brain that was never getting filmed that I had filmed like 80% of but then gave up. It was going nowhere.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Yeah. Yeah, no, totally. At the end of the day, too, this is no shade to anybody. I love Marie Forleo. I took B-School years and years and years ago.

Ally Boothroyd:

I learned lots of great things in B-School.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Lots of great things.

And part of the reason that I created the program that we have today is that I saw this big disconnect between programs that talk a lot about building an audience but don't actually show you how to monetize and take care of that aspect first so that the audience actually equates to a real business for you which is such a missing link.

In addition to that, you were paying for Facebook ads, going in the hole like in debt paying for these Facebook ads. You were also super nervous which was smart to be honest. You were smart because you were nervous about paying for Facebook ads because you're like, "What is this even doing? I don't even know who I'm trying to reach. So I feel like I'm just throwing money away," which I say often like if you're paying for Facebook ads without knowing exactly what your messaging is and who you're trying to target, you're essentially throwing money into a dumpster fire and-

Ally Boothroyd:

And you didn't even have a course.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

And you didn't even have a course.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

It's not funny but it's funny. It's crazy and like I said before, unfortunately, we've had a lot of people come into our program and apply for our program and they're like, "I've spent upwards of $50,000 not just on other courses, but also on ads and all these other things and I have nothing to show for it. I have no clients, I have nothing."

Ally Boothroyd:

I believe it.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Yeah.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

So the first thing that we really focus on is really identifying, like we talked about earlier, what's your offer, how are you going to monetize it, what is your business strategy and your monetization strategy because without that, you could have the nicest freaking website in the world, but what's it actually doing for you?

Ally Boothroyd:

Which I did. Thanks to B-School.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

It's beautiful. I make fun of myself all the time and I get, "Oh my gosh, people have literally done reviews of my website on YouTube and they're like, 'Oh, Sunny Lenarduzzi, you really got to figure this out." And I'm like, "My website, it is shitty. It's not a great website. It doesn't-

Ally Boothroyd:

It doesn't matter that much.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

It doesn't matter that much. It has not affected my business.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

So it's keeping your focus on the things that actually equate to the impact, the income, and the authority and audience that you want to build because then you have the means to then work on the things like your brand and website and all those things if you feel like it.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

So when you gave it to the Authority Accelerator, I imagine it was a bit of a culture shock and a little bit of a shift for you. You want to dive into what that felt like for you and what you went through?

Ally Boothroyd:

Yeah, it was pretty uncomfortable.

Ally Boothroyd:

I started my ICA calls and I didn't really know what my niche was going to be or anything when I started that process. I'm interviewing both yoga students and yoga teachers and just unsure where I'm even going with it all.

Ally Boothroyd:

Anyways, we already talked about how I got through that process and figured out what my niche was going to be and I moved through my mental block about being able to teach trainings online, all of that.

Ally Boothroyd:

And then it was time to do my launch of my program and honestly, once that started, and I was in my element teaching people, it was so natural. It was just so much more natural than anything I had ever tried to do before where I was trying to guess and then pre-film things. I was teaching everything live to my students, answering their questions in real time, putting my PowerPoints together as I went.

Ally Boothroyd:

I was in my element teaching what I love to teach and people were just loving it and I felt that connection that I had been missing since the beginning of the pandemic too of... In yoga trainings, we call it a sanga so the community of people learning together. It's such an important part of my life, these little groups that come together and go through a journey of learning something together and just the relationships that get built in them. It's beautiful.

Ally Boothroyd:

And so I suddenly had this community again on Zoom. Sorry, my ear pods just keep falling out.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Oh my God.

Ally Boothroyd:

I just had to keep putting them back in. Oh my God.

Ally Boothroyd:

But yeah, I just had to keep going and get through that training and it was like I was back doing what I loved again and it felt so natural and it felt so right. And I was like, "This is how you're supposed to do it. This makes sense and this is so easy." And it just feels right.

Ally Boothroyd:

So once I got through the uncomfortable part of figuring out what was I even going to do, once I was doing what I meant to be doing, everything just fell into place and everything from there has felt so easy and so useful.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Oh, I love that. That makes me so happy to hear and I think it speaks to what I said earlier which is reduce the friction. It's like don't create more barriers that are unnecessary between the simple aspects of what you're actually doing when you're creating a program which is you're trying to make an impact on people. But oftentimes, we distract ourselves with all these things that creates so much friction between actually doing that, like building out the most epic funnel without having a client or knowing who you're trying to reach. You know what I mean?

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

So it's interesting to hear your perspective on it. It's why I created the program in the way that I did and I know it works in reverse to what most people do, but it also creates much more efficiency in doing the thing, the main thing that you're trying to do.

Ally Boothroyd:

Yeah, it's actually the right way to do it like everybody should-

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

That's right.

Ally Boothroyd:

It felt like... Now, the other way feels reverse to me. When I see people trying to do it that opposite way, I'm like, "No, no, no, you're doing it backwards-"

I keep doing it backwards.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

What are you doing? You're putting the cart before the horse? How many times have I said that?

Ally Boothroyd:

Yeah.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Oh my gosh, that's so good.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Okay, so one thing you mentioned there which is the community and I know that when you came into the Authority Accelerator, part of what kept you going, and this speaks to what I said earlier about, don't base your vision for the future of your current reality because it's hard to imagine what's possible for you if you've never been there.

But part of the reason that we have lifetime access in the Authority Accelerator program is because we have clients in our program who are now doing $250k+ a month, completely organically, with their online programs and they are in there mentoring our other members and sharing their wins.

So for you, how big of a part did it play to be able to be inside of our community and see the wins from other people?

Ally Boothroyd:

I love the community so much. The community, especially at the beginning, when I had gone out on a limb to join the program, just that strong, intuitive drive that I needed to do it.

While I was in the ICA process, interviewing people, and not knowing what my niche was and all of that, I needed to see those wins and those wins, I was like, "Oh, this person just started six months ago and they're bringing in $20,000 a month and this person made $100,000 for the first time this year, and this person... Oh, look at that person's making 30, no, $300,000 a month or something like that?" There are some really crazy financials that are shared inside of that community.

It just opened my eyes to what was maybe possible for me. I don't think I ever intended, that I had the goal to create that type of financial success for myself. It never really was about that. It was more about can I get myself back to a point where I'm making consistent income again only doing it online so that I can continue to have a community, I can continue to share, I can continue to support my family. I never intended for it to be doing what it's doing right now which is I think this month, it'll bring in $20,000 evergreen and that's been a bonus.

But those people sharing those successes opened my eyes that that could be possible for me. I never even really imagined that type of financial success or reaching the amount of people that I'm able to reach right now.

And it's funny because having an impact and making a peaceful impact on the world has been one of my highest goals and there was a lot of... I was scared of that. I actually talked about that in one of the things that I did with Ashley at her program on this call. But it started to connect for me that making an impact, a peaceful impact was going to translate to financial success through this whole process.

So the community, being able to share that stuff inside of the community, being able to see everybody so supportive in there too, like if I go in there and share a win, which everybody does all the time, there's wins just constantly.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

It's our top trending hashtag in our group #WIN

Ally Boothroyd:

Yeah. So when I go in there and share a win, there's 40, 50 comments from people in there congratulating me and everybody's so supportive so that... And I know that if I ever have a question, I can or if I ever get stuck which I don't think will happen... And I'm too, I know I shared this with you, but I haven't even completed the whole program.

There are so many parts of the program that I haven't even done yet. I've never done a webinar. I don't really do sales calls. There's so many parts that I could start implementing and probably get more results. But I'm happy-

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

You're happy. That's the thing.

Ally Boothroyd:

I'm happy where I am.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

And I think the big takeaway personally for me with you is that you really have defined success for yourself in a way that's totally unique to you and I think that's very important for everybody because success doesn't necessarily mean a million dollars.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Success is how you feel. That's how I personally look at it is like success is peace to me and you are the definition of that and I think it's so cool to see you at this place now where not only you're having the impact that you wanted to make, but you're also reaping the rewards in terms of creating the life and lifestyle that you want.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

And I wanted to share something because you mentioned earlier, you're like, you see people in the group sharing all these wins and stuff and you have as well and you're like, "Yeah," people will be like," I just made my first $100,000." And that was just recently you. I think that's really cool that you share this. You said,

"I just hit $100,000 for the first time in my business this week and my first $20k month."

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

And so the wins are never ending and we are a community of support and showing up for one another. I do think that goes a long way on this entrepreneurial journey which can feel totally isolating, completely intimidating, and no man's land a lot of the time.

I wanted to not just talk about the income. Obviously, you cross the six figure mark from zero to six figures in 18 months, but you also have created a lifestyle. I assume you're very happy with at this point, you've shared pieces of that with me. And so when you think about your lifestyle before, when you're running your local studio to what it looks like now, what is that contrast for you?

Ally Boothroyd:

Oh, it's completely different because before I was really operating in this, "Here's how many hours and how many classes I have to teach, how many people I need to fill into those classes, how many retreats will I have to teach that month, if I want to hit this income goal." There was a cap on how much I could create financially which I was happy with that level of income at that time. But when it disappeared, that was scary and I knew I needed to have more streams of income.

And it's cool actually because what Authority Accelerator has allowed me to do is not only do I have a YouTube income stream but I have a Shopify income stream because people go and they buy my recordings on my Shopify store and so that brings in another passive income stream. And then I'm on Insight Timer and that's another passive income stream. I'm just creating these different...

My course is another passive income or somewhat passive income stream at this point because the course is built out and it's getting applications constantly and all I have to do is read the applications and accept people into the training who are a good fit and it's creating more financial wealth than I ever could have in this studio setting. And when my studio is open, it's just a bonus.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Absolutely. And-

Ally Boothroyd:

I got to be in person with my people-

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Exactly.

Ally Boothroyd:

... and create a little bit of income.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Yeah, exactly. But it's not mandatory, and I think that's the really cool thing is that... That, for me, is the definition of financial freedom is that really you have the freedom of choice and you now have the freedom of choice.

Ally Boothroyd:

Yeah. And I get to spend so much time with my kids.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Yes.

Ally Boothroyd:

I'm not constantly teaching yoga classes, I'm with them.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

You're present.

Ally Boothroyd:

Yes, and we're going to... We often spend several weeks of the year in Costa Rica because I lead yoga retreats in Costa Rica every year, not since COVID and this year, but we had thought we were going to be able to do it this year so we booked everything, we had to postpone the retreat because the pandemic does its thing. But my whole family, my kids, and my husband and I are going to be in Costa Rica for five weeks-

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Wow.

Ally Boothroyd:

... and I can do everything.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

You can do everything and you just took a month off in December and still did $17,000 in your business and you sent... It was the most amazing update you shared with me in the Facebook group and with everybody in the Facebook group and it was this beautiful picture and collage of you with your kids and you were like, "We did it. I took a month off and I still made consistent income," and you were so present with your family. What does that feel like for you?

Ally Boothroyd:

Gratitude.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Yeah.

Ally Boothroyd:

I just feel so grateful that to... So I talked about how one of my intentions is peace and spreading peace and creating peace in the world and it's funny because one of the missing pieces to that was financial peace, feeling just peace of mind financially and feeling secure financially and that adds a whole level of calm and presence and gratitude and peace to my life that I didn't really recognize was...

Ally Boothroyd:

I felt okay, I was doing fine. But to have it all ripped out from underneath me is essentially what it felt like at first and to have not financial peace or stability, to have that again, I feel so grateful and to feel like I have all of these different ways that I can support my family and that I don't have to worry about my kids. I can help my mom if I need to. I just feel blessed really.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Oh.

Ally Boothroyd:

It might sound cheesy.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

I love it. It's so nice.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

I do want to be respectful of your time because time is the most important thing and I know we've almost gone an hour here and I'm so grateful because I think that it's been really informative.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

I'd love it if you could let us know what your takeaways were from today. Give this a like, share it out so we can reach more people with Ally's story.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

But one thing I wanted to share too which is the ripple effects of when you do find your thing and when you really own your expertise and your niche which you've done so well over the last year is you also shared this which for me it's like speaking a different language but for you this is a really big deal and a full circle moment. Do you want to speak to what this post is about?

Ally Boothroyd:

Yeah, I'm trying to see which one it is here.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

It's one about the Kripalu Center.

Ally Boothroyd:

Oh. Oh, the Kripalu Center.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Yeah.

Ally Boothroyd:

So I had a couple of really cool things like this happen recently. But one of the lead faculty and the dean of the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, which is where I was originally trained and where I studied under my teacher and was mentored, they recently reached out to me. One of the senior teachers was a fan of my channel which was so funny to me and when they found out I was a Kripalu graduate, a Kripalu person, they were just over the moon. They were like, "Ah, she's one of us."

Ally Boothroyd:

Yeah, they asked me for a meeting and have asked me to be a part of their... Kripalu has taken or some of the teachers I should say, have created this online community where they mentor the alumni and yoga teachers who have been certified at Kripalu.

Ally Boothroyd:

So they've asked me to be one of the lead teachers who's going to be a paid... I'm going to be like a paid staff on the platform and create workshops and trainings and I'll get to teach people about any area of my expertise that I want. I can essentially create a workshop or create any type of training or series that I want to and just whatever people want to learn from me about. I'll be able to teach on that platform.

Ally Boothroyd:

It was just one of those moments where... They were just so excited that I wanted to be a part of it and I was just like, "I can't even believe this is real life that you guys are wanting me to be a part of this and I'm invited and..." I just couldn't believe it.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

"I'm part of the club now."

Ally Boothroyd:

Yeah.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

The amazing thing is that when you identify your brand which really is who you want to serve and what you want to be known for, those are the two key factors, opportunities just become magnetized to you because people know why they're reaching out to you and they know what your expertise is in. And so this is an amazing opportunity but it's also well-earned and it's because you've done the work to really identify and get clear on how you want to show up and serve the world and so it makes it easy for these opportunities to just flow to you.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

And I'm telling you the sky's the limit. I know that because I've seen it time and time again. And I'm so excited for you. I'm so excited for what the next year is going to bring. And I'm so grateful that you're in the community and I hope you continue to share the journey with us and we might have to do like an update video in a year or something like that

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

But I just wanted to say thank you for your time and thank you for-

Ally Boothroyd:

Thank you for having me.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

... sharing your story. I know there's a lot of people out there right now who have gone through a really challenging time with the pandemic and their business so this has been super helpful.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Ally, thank you so much. Any parting words before we wrap up?

Ally Boothroyd:

I think if you are feeling intuitively drawn to this, it's worth exploring and know that at the very least you'll make your investment back but you'll probably far exceed your expectations. I concur.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Thank you so much. I appreciate your time. I appreciate you. Thank you so much for being here and tuning in and staying with us for the entire hour. That is incredible. And we will be share...

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

Be sure to share this with somebody who needs to see this and needs maybe a little bit of light and hope and inspiration for their entrepreneurial journey because you definitely deliver that today, Ally, as well as a lot of tactical help as well.

Sunny Lenarduzzi:

So, thank you and we hope to see you on the inside with Ally and I at Authority Accelerator. Thanks, everyone. Bye.

Ally Boothroyd:

Thanks-

To apply to the Authority Accelerator today, please go to: https://sunnylenarduzzi.com/apply