The School of Momentum and a Tale of Two Online Business Courses

I recently decided to improve my business acumen. This decision was propelled by a meeting I recently attended regarding Liftoff Capital.  I sat across a large, stylish, boardroom table from two very successful business people (let's call them Phillip and Henrietta) and had the following conversation:

Phillip: So what you're saying is that Liftoff Capital is a disruptive SaS?

Henrietta: I think of it more as a catalytic B2B, really Phillip.

Phillip: Well, the fact that you can enter the Fishtank without even a CAT5 Portal, to me, indicates that really this is a M2B or M4B more than anything else. We'll be seeing it on city busses in no time, if it takes a tier 7 growth pattern.

Henrietta: *nods appreciatively.

Phillip: Now, are you thinking of adopting the Microsoft Model of sales connectivity?

Me: Umm...

Henrietta: You shouldn't. That's all wrong for you.  This needs to be media first, POI second.

Me: Ahh... okay.

Phillip: Well, it seems like you have all your ducks in a row.

Me: Ducks?

I should explain that my background is not really in business. I spend the vast majority of my life working as a medical doctor, to the unabated horror of every single science teacher who had me as their pupil. I co-founded Liftoff Capital, in part, because of my firm belief that even business-novices like me can develop potentially profitable endeavors in their areas of expertise, if matched to the proper investors and mentors.  But now, I find myself at a pain-point.  For all intents and purposes it looks as though Liftoff Capital is working well.  Quite a few people are involved. Small sums of money are changing hands. We have a growing community of entrepreneurs on our site, some of whom are finding investment and mentorship through us. So to my utmost discomfort, I now find myself in a position of needing to be an actual, responsible business person. Hence the decision to take some online business courses.  

Of course I realize that there are "in-person" business classes available.  I realize that I could register for such classes, and quit my eighty-hour-per-week day job to attend them.  I realize also, that if I did that, I would have to move my family into a tent in a Wal-Mart parking lot because I would not be able to pay our mortgage.  So, instead of doing that, I turned to Google, and made a terrible mistake.

My first business course was taught by a very enthusiastic and semi-famous business guy - I'll call him "Josh Brockton" for the purposes of this article.  Josh is an expert in "sales" and in his course, promises to turn you into a "sales-coyote" like him.  The following are the points I learned from Josh Brockton's Online Sales Course Part 1:

• Josh Brockton is a famous business guy!
• Josh Brockton is a master of "the art of the sale!"
• Josh Brockton makes a lot of money!
• I mean, like, Josh Brockton makes more money in a day than you will make in your entire freaking life!  Josh Brockton makes "serious" money!
• Josh Brockton has two boats.  The bigger boat has a Navy Blue Hull.  That's important, as you are about to find out!
• A navy blue hull is a sign of success!  The hull has to be laid perfectly or the reflection of the sunlight off the water will show its imperfections.  It's more expensive to get a blue hulled boat, but Josh Brockton doesn't care. Josh Brockton is freaking rich!
• Josh Brockton waves his arms a lot when he's making an important point.  And get ready, because his arms are really waving now…
• You can be rich too!  Just like Josh Brockton! Like "seriously" rich!  But there's a secret!  And do you know what Josh Brockton's secret to success is?  Can you guess?
• Josh Brockton's secret to success will be detailed in Josh Brockton's Online Sales Course Part 2!

I began shopping for a suitable tent that could serve a family of three through a Canadian winter, when, to my happy fortune, I noticed a post on Facebook from Corey at Momentum Canada.  The School of Momentum was offering an online Facebook Marketing course for a very reasonable price.  

I've been chronically disappointed with my own attempts at marketing through Facebook.  My approach had been to shotgun-blast our advertisements to as large a swath of the North American, South American, European, African and Australian "business communities" as possible in hopes that we could generate a few seed-users in jurisdictions outside our own.  My "conversion rate," (that is, the rate at which people who saw the ad went on to sign their business up for Liftoff Capital) was exactly zero percent.  

I decided to purchase the School of Momentum course, instead of wasting more money chasing the elusive Facebook convert through my uninformed marketing attempts.  I must say, it has been a delightful experience.

Unlike the Josh Brockton course, which to me, is the very definition of "Style Over Substance," the School of Momentum course is "Substance over Style."  It has a simple layout - the soft-spoken, easy-to-understand tutor walks you through the process of setting up your Facebook Business page, creating advertisements, (critically!) testing audiences with your ads, and then executing the ads and tracking your conversion rate.

As is typical of extreme ignorance, I'd had no idea just how extremely ignorant I had been in trying to advertise our business on Facebook.  The School of Momentum course, to me, passes the ultimate value test.  It changes my behaviour to make me more effective at my business. The small price you pay for the course is more than reasonable given how much money it will save you in lost or wasted advertising revenue!

I liked the course so much, in fact, that I asked Joanna and Corey from Momentum Canada to partner with us at Liftoff Capital, and to offer a 10% discount to our clients who enter LIFTOFF10 promo code!  I even tried to hire them to make a "How to Sign Up for Liftoff Capital" video, to help guide new users through the signup and activation process. Their tutorial technique is outstanding!

In closing, I urge everyone who is considering Facebook marketing to first consider the School of Momentum Facebook Marketing course, and to use the promo code on our page (we don't get a kickback, it just saves you some money).  And when you're signing up for your next online business course, watch out for the ones with excessive arm waving - unless of course, you really want to hear more about that boat with the blue hull.