How Brad Wayland Turned 125 Course Sales Into a Million-Dollar Business

Brad Wayland’s experience with his pasture farming course is a story of ambition, mistakes, and ultimately, success. Partnering with a well-known influencer in the farming world, Joel Salatin, the course launched with high hopes and big expectations. 

However, as Brad would later realize, launching a high-end product with an influencer attached doesn’t always guarantee immediate success. The journey involved a lot of trial and error, and in this episode, Brad shares his key takeaways that are very helpful for anyone launching a new product or course.

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Initial High Hopes, Immediate Setbacks

In March 2021, Brad, along with his team, launched a high-production-value course featuring Joel Salatin, one of the most respected figures in the pasture farming space. Initially, the plan seemed perfect: an influencer with a massive following and a reputation that practically guaranteed success. However, the sales didn’t match the expectations.

• Initial Sales: 125 courses sold within the first two weeks, a decent start but far below the target.
• Challenges: Despite the influencer backing, there were miscalculations in understanding the target market, course content, and the pricing strategy.

Brad's initial assumption was that just putting out the course and leveraging Joel’s popularity would be enough to drive immediate sales. But reality soon hit.

Product and Market Misalignment

One of the main challenges Brad encountered was product-market fit. While the course had high-quality content and a famous figure promoting it, the target audience wasn’t the “rich” or impulsive buyers often seen in the online marketing world. 

Instead, the farming community tends to be more frugal and intentional with their spending, especially when it comes to a high-priced course. Here are some key observations about the product-market disconnect:

• Price Point Issues: Joel initially wanted to price the course at $99, which Brad thought was too low. However, when they settled at $995, it still felt like too much for a relatively new, four-hour course.
• Content Gaps: The course initially offered just four hours of content. Compared to comprehensive courses like the Amazing Seller Machine, this felt insufficient to justify the high price.

Brad admits that he misjudged the farming audience’s buying behavior, applying strategies from internet marketing to a completely different niche. This resulted in limited success at first.

Trial and Error: The Road to Success

After the lackluster initial launch, Brad and his team had to rethink their strategy. They tried different approaches, with varying degrees of success:

• Paid Advertising: Initially, their paid ads didn’t bring the results they hoped for. But as time went on, they refined their approach, hired consultants, and slowly began to see positive returns on their ad spend. The key was persistence and learning from mistakes.
• YouTube Channel Launch: A major turning point came when they launched a YouTube channel in 2022. Within a year, they grew their channel to 80,000 subscribers. The steady flow of content, both short-form and long-form, started to build momentum for the course.

Results: 11,500 new subscribers in the last 28 days and hundreds of thousands of views. This organic growth supported their paid efforts, driving traffic to their sales page.

Shifting Focus and Building a Brand

Rather than giving up, Brad doubled down on what they were doing well and shifted the course’s focus. They moved from a basic, foundational course to a more comprehensive offering, gradually building a catalog of 38 hours of content over four years.

• Consistency Was Key: Every six months, new content was added, allowing them to build a more valuable product.
• Word of Mouth: As they added new content, they found that customers who had bought the course earlier began to share their experiences. With every new update, students felt they were getting more value for their money, leading to positive word-of-mouth marketing.

Brad’s belief in the long-term potential of the product, combined with a solid content foundation, was crucial in their eventual success.

The Importance of PatiencE

One of the most valuable lessons Brad shares is the importance of grinding through the tough times. Many entrepreneurs face moments of doubt, especially when a project doesn’t immediately succeed. But persistence is key. Brad used this mantra to stay motivated:

• Grinding: Even when it seemed like sales weren’t coming in, Brad continued to invest in ads, build out new content, and focus on the bigger picture.
• Setting Expectations: One of the mistakes Brad made was not setting the right expectations with his partners. If he had communicated the long game from the beginning, it would have helped manage everyone’s expectations and reduced the pressure on immediate results.

Eventually, this persistence paid off. Today, they are seeing consistent sales, and the course has become a profitable business. Licensing deals with companies have further expanded their reach.

Key Takeaways for Entrepreneurs

Brad’s experience with the pasture farming course offers several lessons for anyone launching a new product or course:

1. Understand Your Audience: Know your customers and how they behave. What works for one market may not work for another.
2. Pricing Strategy: Don’t assume that a high price point will always translate to success. Consider starting with an accessible price and gradually increasing it as the product proves its value.
3. Persistence Is Key: Business success doesn’t happen overnight. Stay focused on the long-term vision, and be willing to adapt along the way.
4. Invest in Content: Continuously improving and adding to your product is crucial. Make sure the content matches the value you’re promising.
5. Don’t Be Afraid to Pivot: If something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to try new strategies or pivot in a new direction.

Brad’s story shows that while success might take longer than expected, it’s the long game that ultimately wins. By focusing on building value, understanding the market, and maintaining persistence, he and his team were able to turn their initial setbacks into a thriving business.

Final Thoughts

Today, the farming course is a thriving business with over 1,000 students. Brad and his team have successfully turned a modest beginning into a million-dollar business. The addition of licensing deals, organic growth from the YouTube channel, and ongoing improvements in marketing have allowed the business to scale sustainably.

For those who are in the midst of struggling with their own course or business, Brad’s story offers hope. It's a reminder that success is rarely immediate and that perseverance, adaptability, and continuous learning are essential for growth. If you're willing to put in the effort and grind through the tough times, success may just be around the corner.

Brad's mantra: "If you believe and know that it can be successful, then you've gotta find that drive to stay the course and keep grinding every day." This is a story of determination, learning from mistakes, and ultimately, creating something that truly serves the people it was designed to help.

Links & Resources

• Learn all about Brad Wayland
• His How to Buy an Online Business course
• Work with Brad at Quiet Light

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