5 Lessons I Learned From Making $6 Million Selling Digital Products In One Year

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Can you imagine taking a 29 page PDF and a 2 hour video and making over $6,000,000 in a year selling access to it? Me either… until I did. It wasn’t luck—it was a combination of strategy, trial and error, and learning some tough lessons along the way.

If you’re trying to grow your online business to six or seven figures, let me save you years of frustration. Here are the 5 biggest lessons I learned while building a multi-million-dollar digital product business.

Lesson 1: Stop Stressing About How Much You Spend to Acquire a Buyer

This might sound backward, but stick with me: I never cared about how much I spent to acquire a buyer. What mattered wasn’t the cost—it was the return.

Here’s the secret: instead of obsessing over your cost per lead (CPL) or cost per acquisition (CPA), track your short-term lifetime value (LTV). I calculated how much I made, on average, from every lead within 30 and 60 days.

This gave me a huge edge over my competition. While others were scared to spend more than $30 to acquire a $97 sale, I knew that within 60 days, I’d make $300 from that same buyer. So, I spent fearlessly—because I understood my numbers.

Takeaway: Know your short-term LTV like the back of your hand. When you know how much each buyer is truly worth, you can outspend your competition and win. If you are just starting, then you need to have really good follow up offers for your buyers, recurring income, and we’ll get to that.

Lesson 2: You Don’t Make Millions with One Offer

If you’re trying to hit big numbers, here’s the truth: one product won’t cut it.

I started with a $97 product that sold like crazy. It brought in 17,556 buyers in one year, generating about $1,755,600. But that was only one-third of my total revenue.

How did I 3x my earnings? By offering more products to those buyers. This is called the escalation path.

Here’s how it works:

1. Start with a low-ticket product to get people in the door.

2. Offer additional value through upsells, order bumps, and new offers over time.

3. Create “turbo boosts” every 3 months that bring in a big enrollment to you a higher priced product.

If you want to grow, don’t be afraid to sell more. Your existing customers are your hottest leads—they already trust you!

Takeaway: If you want to make more money, make more offers. Start with something low-ticket, then create a series of offers that increase in value (and price).

Lesson 3: Low-Ticket Offers Are the Foundation of Your Funnel

I’ve been in the online space for over 15 years and sold products at every price point imaginable—from $10 eBooks to $40,000 coaching packages. And while every price point has its place, here’s what I’ve learned:

Low-ticket offers win.

Why? Because they build your audience, grow your list, and set the stage for bigger wins down the line.

Low ticket is easier than webinars and challenges too. SUPER simple funnels to create, single products, very easy. Don’t get me wrong though, I LOVE Webinars and challenges… but I love them for my warm audience.

In fact, in June 2023, I promoted a webinar to my email list. Thanks to my low-ticket funnel (and the audience it built), that webinar brought in $200,000 in a single day. That’s the power of a strong front end.

The formula is simple:

1. Use low-ticket products to attract buyers and build your list.

2. Monetize that list with webinars, challenges, or high-ticket offers. (These can be immediately after the purchase in your initial funnel, or monthly, weekly, etc)

Takeaway: A good low-ticket offer isn’t just a product—it’s the foundation of your entire funnel. Build it right, and everything else will flourish.

Lesson 4: You Need a Team to Scale

For years, I wore the “solopreneur” badge proudly. I did everything myself—building funnels, writing copy, running ads, answering customer questions. It worked when I was starting out, but when my business hit six figures, I hit a wall.

That’s when I realized: you can’t do it all yourself.

When I hired a team, everything changed. Suddenly, I had people to help with customer support, create new products, and optimize my systems. This freed me up to focus on growth—and the results speak for themselves.

There are 3 SUPER important levels to hire for:

1. Customers Happiness. Hire someone who’s job is to check in on people and make sure they are happy. You’ll make a TON of money back just by getting people not to refund or cancel your recurring product.

2. Marketing. Once you have happy customers, you want to start bringing more happy customers in and a team that can help with your ads is key. The ESSENTIAL piece here is that you want a marketing team/ agency that will make you new creatives. MOST of ads management is creating new “ad creatives” and can take a ton of time.

3. Sales. As you add in a good backend you’re going to want someone to help you close sales. You can’t spend your entire day on sales calls, but someone in charge of sales sure can.

If you have happy customers, your marketing is on point making it easier to acquire new customers, and you have someone in charge of closing those sales into higher priced products… you’re well on your way to a powerhouse team.

Here’s the good news: you don’t need a team to start. But once you hit a certain level, scaling becomes nearly impossible without help.

Takeaway: Start as a solopreneur, but be ready to hire when the time comes. A great team can take your business further, faster.

Lesson 5: The Real Money Is in the Backend

This is the most important lesson I’ve learned in 15+ years online: if you’re only building a front-end offer, you’re leaving money on the table.

Most entrepreneurs focus on quick wins—affiliate sales, one-off products, or low-ticket funnels with no backend. That’s why they cap out at $20K/month (if they’re lucky) while burning themselves out posting 24/7.

I’ve been able to build multiple seven-figure businesses and maintain consistent $100K months because I always build a backend.

Here’s what that looks like:

1. Use low-ticket offers to grow your list.

2. Build recurring revenue with a subscription product or software (I love offering SaaS).

3. Create high-ticket offers like coaching or consulting for your top customers.

The backend isn’t just extra revenue—it’s the foundation of a sustainable business. Without it, you’re stuck on the hamster wheel of constant promotion.

Takeaway: If you want a real business (not just a hustle), build a backend. Recurring income and high-ticket offers are the keys to long-term success.

The Million-Dollar Formula in Action

So, what’s the moral of the story? If you want to grow your business to 7 figures, here’s the formula:

1. Know your numbers. Don’t obsess over ad spend—focus on lifetime value.

2. Make more offers. One product won’t cut it. Keep adding value for your customers.

3. Start with low-ticket. Build your list and audience with affordable entry offers.

4. Hire when it’s time. A great team can help you scale faster and better.

5. Build a backend. Recurring revenue and high-ticket offers will take you to the next level.

This strategy helped me hit $6 million in one year—and it can help you too.

How To Do All Of This

The people looking to take their business to the next level need to understand this picture…

There are 5 key areas to your business if you want it to get to above 7 figures…

Main Growth Engine
Fuel
Lubricants (Most people put WAY too much focus on this, and it’s the least important)
Accelerators
Turbo Boosts

I’ve never done a formal training on this but I would really love to…

I’m going to be covering it on my Youtube Channel soon IF you give me a follow. Follow My Channel Here

If I see a spike in new follows from this email, I’ll make sure I do this training SOON!

For now, that’s it…

Stay paid,

Travis Stephenson

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