My 2021 Annual Business Review

Santa: Happy holidays!

This is your good old pal, Santa Claus.

And you're listening to Money Lab.

In today's episode, Matt will be
sharing the behind-the-scenes details

of his 2021 annual business review.

Matt is such a good little boy.

But let's see how he does on this episode.

If he puts on a good show,
I'll get him a great big toy.

If not, well, there's plenty of
coal to stuff in his stocking.

Let's do this thing!

Matt: All right.

My name is Matt.

Welcome to money lab.

That was a weird intro.

I found.

I'm just going to be honest with you.

That was not Santa Claus.

Sorry.

All right.

Sorry.

If your children are listening, that was
SANAS elf pretending to be Santa Claus.

Okay.

And.

It was all using this fancy.

App this north pole app called
de script or descript or

whatever they want to call it.

And you can do overdubs.

Of different people.

And one of those people is Santa Claus.

So happy holidays, Merry Christmas.

Happy new year.

It's all coming.

This is the end of the year.

Spectacular.

It's just me as always, or at least
it's in the last few episodes.

Just been me.

And today.

Um, Well, we're going to go over
my 2021 annual business review.

I'll be honest with you.

It took me.

Oh two full days after getting my
booster and feeling like not the best.

Um, I just sat in bed and I just wrote
this thing out, um, before the holidays.

And it was a doozy.

It took a while because, uh, it's
one of the longer reviews that I've

done and there was a lot of good.

There was actually mostly good.

Which I was honestly surprised by.

I think I had a pretty
good year this year.

Um, despite obviously
things in the world, but.

You know, here we are.

Um, and I had a few people reach
out to me after I published this.

And they were kind of surprised by
how much money swim university makes,

which is flattering because, um,

Aye.

I didn't, I didn't know that
I never really shared that.

Or I guess maybe, you know,
put that out into the ether.

Uh, but yeah, this year was this.

And I'm going to go over everything,
but first, um, let's talk about.

The my three brands because.

This was the first year.

That I actually didn't
start anything new, which.

Which I, you.

I claim as a huge win for me,
because normally I start some new,

ridiculous project in some new industry
and, and documented on money lab.

But this year I kept it.

Um,

I kept it pretty, pretty
close to the vest.

Meaning I, I just worked on my
three brands, which was nice.

And I did a lot of optimization.

I did a lot of work this year,
kind of within my own ecosystem and

it honestly paid off and I think.

2021 or 2022 will be the same exact
thing where I'm basically just going to

work on my own stuff, because I think.

If you, if you go back and you
think about, or I, I think about

all of the times where I, you
know, I started swimming diversity,

I was really gung ho about it.

And then, you know, Things are not
moving as fast as you'd like them to.

And then you start, you know,
looking at other things and

you jump into other industries.

You know, for me, I would start an
app or I would start a social network

or I would start another website or I
would, you know, team up and partner

with somebody else to do something
that I think could be lucrative.

But it turns out like the, the one, if I
just, honestly, if I just stuck with swim

university for the last 15 years as my.

Only project.

I think I'd be way farther ahead.

I think I could take
some university very far.

I think it could be a very huge company.

But I keep.

I do this thing where I, I, I have this
shiny object syndrome where I'm like,

Yeah, I'm kind of bored of pools.

I'm kind of bored of this.

Like I want to start something
new and that's just my Mo.

And, um, that's sort of why
money lab exists because

it's embracing that sort of.

Eclectic viewpoint of business,
but I do think it's a detriment in

the end it's but when it comes to
money, when it comes to my health,

You know, mentally.

I think it's a good thing.

I'm expressing what I need to express and
I'm doing the things that I want to do as

opposed to the things that I have to do.

Um, but that said, let's
get into the actual review.

My big flagship brand.

His swim university.

It accounted for about 75% of
my revenue for the year, um,

which is a pretty big chunk.

And so as far as like diversification,

Uh, I think about diversification
within each brand.

So having multiple brands is not my
idea right now of diversification.

Um, what I'd rather do is
have one excellent brand with

multiple revenue streams in it.

That is diversification.

Okay.

Um, So some university got
less traffic this year now.

That is because in 2020, when we were
all locked down, everybody bought pools.

That's what they were doing because
they knew they couldn't go on vacation.

Then they had to stay home.

So everyone was buying pools and.

Honestly like that is.

Like it had the biggest boom ever
since like 2004, it was like a,

just a huge year for P four pools.

So.

Uh, Because 2020, 2020 was such a
big year for pools, uh, in 2021.

It wasn't as big people kind of went
back to normal for the most part.

Um, so we weren't all staying at home.

And so we had a decrease in traffic.

Now, how big of a decrease is that?

It wasn't huge.

I think, let me just scroll down to two.

Those stats.

Um, It was about 17% decrease
in traffic, but here's the

interesting part about that revenue.

Was up this year.

Over 2020.

Um, Now, if any of you have been following
me for a while for a while, you'll know

that I've been trying to get sort of
distanced myself from affiliate marketing.

Not that I'm not embracing it.

Of course, I'm going to take the affiliate
marketing money, but I'm sort of thinking.

Bigger, because I think I can, at this
point where I have a lot of traffic.

And affiliate marketing does work well
for me, except, you know, Amazon just

keeps dropping the commission rate and
I really don't want to be in a bunch

of partnerships with other people
and make other people a ton of money.

And so, you know, yeah, I could, I've
teamed up with other affiliates and

you know, I do get better rates, but.

It's, you know, it's not, it's
just a lot harder to manage in a.

Just, it's just harder to manage
all those relationships and

they're not like huge ticket items.

And.

And I have to, you know, they're
not Amazon, so it's like, are

they going to perform well?

And, and it's just like, I don't
want to be a wire cutter where

I'm like constantly reviewing
products and that's all I'm doing.

Um, Not to say that I'm not, I'm just,
I'm just trying to diversify a way

from affiliate marketing and adding
more revenue streams so that I'm

not solely dependent on it because.

My God, he made one mistake.

Um, or, you know, Again, like the
thing I say about affiliate marketing

is there's just one board meeting.

It's all it takes is one board
meeting that you're not invited to

for, for your business to get killed.

Uh, and that's what keeps
happening with Amazon.

Obviously they don't really care.

About, I don't think anybody, but.

It's you know, It's, you know,
it's good money to start, but it

does require a ton of traffic.

And so yeah, when you look
at the numbers, I made.

Uh, $150,000 from, uh, uh,
affiliate marketing in the year.

Granted that's 5 million
visitors, you know, it's a lot

of, that's a lot of traffic.

And so if you know, and that's, that's
mostly Amazon, I'm not saying you can't

make money with affiliate marketing,
but it just seems to get harder and

harder every year for at least for me.

I don't know if it's.

For everybody else.

But like, when I remember when I was
doing numbers way bigger than that,

In Amazon and people were shocked by that.

And it's like, yeah, well, I mean, But
I'm just like, this sucks for me because

I can't control, I have no control over
this, besides just adding the link.

Right.

And making sure that those
links are updated every year.

And it's kind of like
shitty work, to be honest.

So I am.

I diversified a few years ago into
selling my own digital products.

So I have four products right now.

What's the university.

I have four courses.

Uh, three are for pool owners.

One is for hot tub owners and those
products is where I did most of my work.

This year.

I did a lot of optimization.

You can read the, a gazillion dollar
sales funnel experiment on money lab.

That covers the entire
optimization process.

On what I did on the site.

I created like an, a better lead magnet.

I did.

I focused way more on email marketing.

I created an OTO, which
is a one-time offer.

Uh, to help promote the product.

I increase the price of the products
I created better sales pages.

Like I kind of did.

A lot of work in March and April,
right before pool season to kind of

get these, you know, things better.

And next year in 2022, I'm
going to be focusing my time on.

Um, Getting trying to get more
people into the top of the funnel.

My lead magnets are good.

I just would like to experiment
a little bit more into paid

advertising and more content creation.

So we have an entire editorial calendar
set up for the first quarter for both,

uh, our YouTube videos and our website.

So like contents taken care of, and I'm
just going to experiment a little bit

with Google and Facebook advertising.

And.

Uh, improve my sales pages.

That's kind of where I want to spend.

Some of my time is improving those and
improving my evergreen newsletter and

just general emails across the board.

I want to send more emails.

My goal in 2022 is this end.

A lot more emails and a lot
more soft and hard pitches.

All three email, I think email we've.

We did a lot of work this year.

In collecting as many email addresses.

Humanly could, uh, I actually think I
have 75,000 pools subscribers right now.

There's about 15,000 hot tub subscribers.

You know, money labs grow
in brew, cabins grow.

And as far as subscribers are concerned,
and I just need to send more emails and

promote my products in those emails.

I think that'll that'll do well.

So.

Uh, in 2020.

I made 235,000 or 230, 6,000.

Dollars selling my courses.

In 2021, I made $334,000.

So I increased it by a
hundred thousand dollars.

And my traffic was down by 16%.

Or 17%.

So.

I'm telling you that because million
dollar sales funnel, was it accounted for?

Um, A hundred thousand dollars.

So, uh, I highly highly recommended
if anyone has the same type of

business that I do to look at that
post, because game changer, honestly.

Um, also our YouTube channel crossed
a hundred thousand subscribers.

We, our YouTube channel
did very well in 2021.

It did well in 2020 as well.

So, um, That certainly helped.

So our, so, you know, maybe our
traffic was down by 17%, but our

YouTube traffic was up by a lot.

So.

Uh, you can make the
argument and that's a.

And we, so in 2020, and I didn't mention
this in the article, but in 2020, and I'm

sorry that I'm saying these years, and
there's like kind of confusing because

you're like 20, 20, 20, 20, 21 21.

So in.

2020.

We had a little ad that we would put
into every video that we put out.

We were putting out in the
summer, two videos a week.

We both bought on average,
we're putting out one a week.

And in those ads, we were
advertising our courses for 10.

Like we would say, Hey, use this
coupon code and get 10% off.

Right.

And people still buy the course that way.

Um,

But the course price went up.

So the course price went up by 50 bucks.

And so we, I think we gave people
20% off as opposed to just 10% off.

No, maybe it was like 15 or something.

I don't know.

So they're getting like more of a
discount than, you know, what they

were, but in, but this year, We decided
to switch our offer in our email.

Or sorry, in our, um, videos.

And instead of promoting the
course directly with a coupon

code, we promoted our cheat sheet.

That was a free, so we're
instead of offering something

like, Hey, here's 10% off.

We said, here's something that's
free and go download it here.

Um, and people have some.

You know that converts very well
because it's the same kind of

people who come in through Google
and are finding our articles.

They convert well to the cheat sheet of.

You know, and it's, it
just works very well.

And they're buying our courses.

At 50% off because it's
a whole funnel thing.

So.

Go check that out.

Now YouTube ad revenue.

Um, was pretty decent.

I, we, I was actually talking to Justin
Jackson about this on Twitter because he

had made this argument about, um, and I
was, I was on board with his argument.

Which is.

You know, if YouTube is such this
creator economy and they're trying to,

you know, Build up these creators and
say that, and that they have, they're

touting that, Hey, we've created all
these jobs that didn't exist before.

It's like, okay, but you need,
in my case, I have a very

affluent audience of pool owners.

And.

Our CPM is pretty high.

I think it's like 10
bucks, like come kinda.

It's like somewhere in that area, which
is not for most creators on YouTube

and we made $54,000 or we'll probably
make $55,000 for the whole year in

just ad sense revenue on YouTube.

Right.

YouTube ads.

We made 34,000 in 2020 now.

So we did.

A big increase and we have every single
one of our videos monetized and the

people who are advertising on our
videos for the most part, from what we

found out, our pool companies that we.

I do recommend, so, um, it's kind of
a win-win for us, but we're not making

that much for the effort that we put in.

And that's Justin's argument is like,

54,000 or 55,000.

But you need a hundred
thousand subscribers and

putting out videos every week.

Like, is that a good job?

I, you know, I, I made the, I was
kind of making the argument that no.

But the more I think about it, I'm
like, It's you know, We found a

good niche and we had, you know,
it's affluent, it's very specific.

Our videos can all be done at home.

There's not, it's not
a ton of work for us.

You know?

Like when you, when you scale back, right.

I have, I mean, it takes me
and stuff to make a video, but.

She can do a video one a week video.

It's like two days of work for her.

So.

You know, if it was just her doing
the entire process, which, you know,

Really she does the entire process.

All I do is the voiceovers.

So, you know, that's not that hard to do.

And if she wanted to do the
voiceover, she could do them herself.

Um, that is a good job.

You know, it's, uh, it's, it's a good job.

It's, you're not crushing it.

You know, like you would think most of
YouTube creators are, but, um, yeah.

That's a good job.

I mean, 30, 60 per $60,000 a year.

It's a good, good job.

But you know, it took us many
years to get there, like four years

of creating videos to get there.

So.

I don't know if that tells you anything.

Uh, so in 2021 this year, We also expanded
and I have not talked about this publicly.

Uh, all that much.

I've kind of just hinted
at it here and there.

I started selling physical products.

So I opened up a Shopify store.

And I white labeled two products
and then I bundled them in a kit.

So technically three skews and
I, I was, you know, just, I,

I just bought a small amount.

You know, just a couple of
hundred units per product.

Uh, I use the company.

Uh, to, you know, warehouse
it like a three PL, which is a

third-party logistics company.

And I set up the Shopify store.

I sent an email out and
sold out of my inventory.

So.

In a month.

And I was, I kind of was just,
uh, That whole experience.

So back in, um, and I, and I'm not
going to talk about it too much

because honestly I'm keeping this one
sort of private and in, so you can

find out, I mean, I wrote this whole.

I wrote the whole thing.

If you join money lab pro,
which right now is $499 a year.

And it's just a community of
online entrepreneurs and we're

actually, uh, we actually have it.

We have a call every week where we
get on zoom and sort of just like.

You know, do kind of masterminding stuff.

Um, And we're doing a challenge
in the early next year in 2022.

To build our, to build digital
products within the next two months.

So.

I'm going to be building a
new product for money lab.

Other people in the community are
building their first digital products.

And we're going to just kind
of do that challenge together

and it's, it's been fun.

The community, honestly
like money lab pro has been.

I'll talk about this a little bit later.

One of the most rewarding
things of this year.

Um, I love it.

And I'm, and I'm glad it's
just the community now.

And the people who are in it are very
highly engaged and we're all kind

of like buddy, buddy, and this is,
it's just been fun, fun, fun to do.

So I.

I recommend you join if
you're interested in it.

I know it's a, it's really
just like having just someone

to lean on during, you know,

Building your business and you
just kind of wish you had that.

It's not, not.

It's not a huge community.

There's people like me there
who, who will shoot we'll shoot

people, shoot your videos.

If you need help with like technical
stuff or business questions, or

just like getting feedback on stuff.

It's awesome.

Right.

Well, this whole physical product
thing, I kept just inside money lab pro.

I wrote basically an entire month.

There's like a whole big ass
money lab challenge post.

Um, within money lab pro.

Uh, that talks about the
entire process of me, you know?

Uh, finding somebody to, to source from
white labeling, you know, these products,

selling them, setting up Shopify.

Et cetera, et cetera.

So I think I ended up spending
in the grand scheme of it.

I'll just kind of give broad numbers.

I spent about five grand.

To just get the product in inventory.

And.

In, and again, I sent out one.

I sent out three emails,
but like one time, right.

I sent three, three three-day emails.

Manually back in.

So I got the product finally in my
inventory, like a design labels,

got the product in my inventory.

Uh, for sale on Shopify in mid September.

And then, um, just kinda let
it ride for a couple of weeks.

And then in early October I sent
the email out that was like,

Hey, we're, we're launching these
new products, blah, blah, blah.

Boom, like.

I just sat there, which what's
Shopify and just watch sales role.

And it was awesome.

It was so cool.

And I, and it was just so
easy and I'm like, oh my God.

So we ended up making,
uh, a little over $11,000.

So if you're doing the math
there, it's, you know, almost

a 60% margin on those products.

Um, And.

Aye.

The the, the whole world.

Of e-commerce just opened up to me.

And I'll, I'll be honest with you.

Like I've been in the pool
industry since I was 13 years old.

I've worked.

In the store.

I've stocked shelves.

I've I've tested.

Chemicals.

I've been an assistant
manager, I've been a manager.

I actually ended up working for a company.

Where I would source.

You know, Product to sell in the store.

So I was fully in charge of the store.

I was fully in charge
of marketing the store.

And it was a very rewarding experience,
even though I hated working there, I, it

was rewarding in the, in the sense that.

I basically was running my own.

Retail business for a year.

And I was at one point in my life.

I was asked to partner
with somebody to buy.

The first store that I ever
worked in, my old owner was,

was retiring and was selling the
store and he had offered it to me.

But of course I, you know, I think
I was like 18 or 19 or maybe even

20 and I didn't have the cash to
buy it, but my friend's dad did.

And said he wanted to go in on it
with me as long as I ran the store

and he would just be the money guy.

That ended up falling through, but that
was a possibility at one point in my life.

And.

I just was so into like
marketing, physical products.

And, you know, as a marketing director
and as a source or somebody that would

literally like call these, you know,
vendors and beat them up on price to

try to get my stock and my inventory,
you know, Hey, I'll buy two skids of

this five skids that, you know, give
me a deal on this, blah, blah, blah.

Cause I knew what I could sell on
what I couldn't sell in the stores.

And.

That, you know, when I moved to the
online world, all of that sort of

knowledge that I had disappeared, like
it just, it was always been there.

But it was dormant in my brain.

And whenever we were talking about.

You know, e-commerce I talked to Andrew
about e-commerce before I've talked

to other people, who've kind of been.

Poking at me like, Hey, maybe
you should get into this.

And I'm like, no, because, oh, the
customer, sir, like I know what

it's like to run a retail store.

And it's just like, you're just
constantly servicing customers and.

Then our shipping and that's where it's
like, oh, this is all, all these things.

Uh, thankfully this year I had a
mentor that helped me through it.

Um, who's part of money
lab pro, and that's how I.

We had to like kind of connect it.

And.

Yeah, it was just awesome.

And I had to hold the whole world opened
up to me and I was just like, I know

this world, this is so intrinsic to me.

And it was almost like, I sh I'm like I
was kind of kicking myself cause I'm like,

I should've done this a long time ago.

And it's funny because that
$11,000 that I just mentioned.

Is one month and that was a trial.

That was me just trying it out.

So I'm like, oh shit.

If I just, if I just gave this any effort.

Uh, sky's the limit, I think, um,
Now, you know, as I'm recording this

episode, I'm like this might have to
be broken up into a few more episodes.

There's a lot of.

So a lot to cover here.

Um, Moving on.

We're going to the next two are
not as fun as the first one.

So that's when university, uh, all
in all it made, you know, $550,000,

which was a 27% increase over last
year, despite the lower traffic.

That, but, but more, um, I
put definitely more money into

advertising, paid advertising, both
Facebook and Google, and I put more

effort into the YouTube channel.

So that's kind of making up for that.

Moving on to brew cabin brew
cabin is such an interesting.

Area and actually Steph and I
just talked about this recently.

I want to kind of give what's going to
happen, but also what already happened.

So.

I only wrote one new article on brew
cabin and it was based on the video

that I made and it's one of the best
articles I have on the whole website.

And it still doesn't rank.

So it's going to take some time
there, but I think it will.

Um, I, you know, in 2020.

I built a home brewery in my garage.

That was sort of a, you know, personally,

Uh, as a human being, I am a beer drinker.

A, I love beer.

It's my favorite thing in the world.

And I Homebrew, I love it.

I've been doing it since I live
with my parents and I don't

really have like a home brewing
community or home brewing friends.

I have just like one or
two homebrewing friends.

Uh, Doug Cunnington being one of them.

Uh, so if you know, Doug.

Uh, who's also in affiliate
marketing and in our industry.

Um, and I've been on his show
upon she's been on my show.

And he lives two miles away now.

So are not even two miles.

I think it's just a mile anyway.

So I have this brewery and I got the
brewery published in an article on a,

in a real magazine that I read, which
was cool, you know, like just an N.

Not an industry magazine, but
a, a magazine for homebrewers.

And they have this section
of their magazine called the

home home brew, drool setup.

It's a terrible name for a section,
but that's what it's called.

And it's, you know, and you can submit
your home brewery as like a, you know,

here's the ultimate brewery that I built.

Um, so I, I wrote that
article it's in that magazine.

Which was cool.

That was a highlight.

Uh, the thing though is I
kind of neglected the website

besides that one article.

So the website decreased by 57%.

But the 8%.

Now.

I think there's a few
reasons for this one.

Obviously I neglected it and
this is the first year I like

really neglected it, you know?

And I've, haven't written anything
new on this site in like three

years and everyone knows that.

Uh, But I think homebrewing had
such a boom in 2020, the same

with pools where everyone was
home and had to do home brewing.

Right.

So.

I just, I knew that homebrewing
had been up that year.

This year, it really came down because
I think every brewery opened back

up and we're like, nah, fuck it.

We're going to go drink commercial
beer instead of our own crap.

So, um,

So there's that.

So traffic was down by a lot.

Okay.

Uh, however, I've been kind of
focusing more on the YouTube channel.

That's where I like to live.

I don't, you know, writing homebrewing,
homebrewing articles is like not the

most fun thing to do, but writing.

Uh, Creating YouTube videos is like the.

I, I wish I could just do
that full time, honestly.

It's so fucking awesome.

Uh, YouTube views were up
by 3362%, which is insane.

Right?

Cause I had I based, I, the only reason
that number even is exists because.

The only, I only launched one video in
2020 and that at the end of the year,

so it didn't get like a ton of use.

Most of the views came this year.

So yeah, it's just up a lot.

Uh, now.

This is where I like to brag.

Um, And I, you know, it's funny.

I, I, well, here's what I'll brag about.

The channel only has five videos.

Okay.

I do about a video every quarter.

This is about how I is
about how it works out.

And I've gained over 6,000
subscribers in a year.

Uh, with only five videos.

And.

When you either might not seem that like
that much, but the industry is small.

There's only one channel.

In the homebrewing industry,
that's over a hundred thousand.

They just crossed it this year.

And, and there are, uh, you
know, a pretty decent operator.

Their view, their videos are very good.

Um, Most of the brew tubers they call
themselves are, you know, the, the good

ones hover at around 35,000 right now.

Uh, there's one guy who was like
superseded them because he kind of

got into cooking a little bit too.

Um, and he's been.

He's like, oh, gee guy.

But, um, He's at around 50,000
and then there's like nobody

between 50 and a hundred.

Right.

It's just like, there's one channel.

That's just like, kind
of surpassed everybody.

Um, and it's.

And I think the reason for
that is one they've been

doing it for a long time, too.

Their videos are very
entertaining with three.

They, their channel does reach
outside of the home brewing crowd.

'cause they talk about, you know,
cider and hard seltzer and, you know,

carbonated water and, and, and whiskey
and all kind of all sorts of things.

So they're not just
homebrewing focused and.

They're pro they sell a product and
their products very accessible to

homebrewers and again, their videos
are good, so, but, but they're sort of

like, You know, a meme factory where
there, where there, you know, creating

videos that are trying to reach a big
audience, whereas, you know, a lot of

the other home brewer or brew tubers.

You know, kind of focus.

In the homebrewing space anyway.

Five videos.

6,000 subscribers is an achievement.

And I'm very proud of every
single one of those videos that

took me a very long time to make.

I highly recommend you go watch them all.

Um, cause they're fun, but.

Business-wise.

Uh, Affiliate commissions because the
traffic was down so much cut in half last

year, I made about $11,000 this year.

About $5,000.

So more than half.

Digital product sales, which I did
not have in 2020 made up for that

half cut and another 5,000 there.

Right.

So.

You know, affiliate revenue down
product sales, which are new

replace that story of my life.

Which is like, Uh, affiliate
sales, just keep dropping.

And yet if I make a
product, it makes up for it.

You.

You know, so that's what I did
with, with some university.

And that's what I did with brew cabin.

And here we are.

So the revenue total for
the year was about $10,000,

which was only a 6% decrease.

Um, You know, That's not that bad.

That's a decrease of 6%.

But, you know, keep in mind.

A 60% loss in traffic.

And I did have a YouTube channel,
but the YouTube channel does

not promote any of the products.

So it's, it's very, you
know, an art project and kind

of, not a promotional area.

There's not even ads on there.

Uh, YouTube.

So.

Yeah.

Um, To kind of forward,
think a little bit.

Um, I think I'm not gonna, I think
I'm going to go a fourth year.

Without worrying about.

Doing articles for brew cabin.

I think the articles that are there are
fine, but I think my focus is going to be.

A hundred percent on YouTube.

And that's just where I'm going to live.

I don't, you know, unless I can,
uh, Unless somebody out there as

a homebrewer, he wants the right.

And, you know, And we
have a good relationship.

And I find a good writer
to help me keep up with it.

I mean, I have the stuff to do.

I have the articles to write.

I just don't.

Um, I can create the briefs for
it, but I just don't have the time.

To write.

Those articles, but if anybody
out there is interested,

Uh, hit me up via email matt@moneylab.co.

Otherwise I think I'm
just going to let the.

You know, websites sort of,
uh, just be the collection

plate for the YouTube channel.

Moving on to my final brand, which
is money lab, the podcast that

you're listening to right now.

By the way.

I'm sorry that I didn't come out
with an episode last week, we got a.

A new cat and I've been kind of,
I've never been a cat owner before,

so I'm just like, I just kind of
spend time with him and, and w.

Figuring it all out.

And I was like, oh shit, I
forgot to record a podcast.

Oh, that's what I get for
not having a producer.

I just I'm, I'm, I'm my own worst
enemy, but here's the other thing too.

I get, I don't get as much feedback,
you know, when it's like, Hey,

where the fuck are your podcasts?

I never get, I didn't get a single
email that was like, Hey, where's

your, is your podcast last week?

So it was just like, oh yeah, right.

I got to do that.

So I figured this week, you
know, We've got this annual

review thing and we'll just.

It's going to be a biggie,
a lot of dense information.

Uh, so money lab.

Did very well this year.

Um, I didn't create any new products.

But I did bundle my products into
something called the blog builder kit.

Uh, which was new this year.

Which you can get four of my
bestselling courses and my WordPress

theme, all in a discounted bundle
that's available on money lab.co.

So you can find that under courses.

And I did update carbonate, which is
my WordPress theme to carbon at 2.0.

Um, so that was another thing.

And I also raised the price by 20 bucks.

So I technically didn't
create any new products.

I just like repackaged old ones,
but it looks like because of

the money lab, pro community.

Um, that was the biggest new product that
I actually launched in 2021 in February.

I believe.

And.

Initially the people who joined.

Uh, they got, you know, the
community, they got all my courses,

my WordPress thing, they got
the everything for $49 a month.

Or four 90 a year.

I think it was the annual price.

And so that lasted about
four to six months.

Before, and then I had done some JV
stuff like, you know, joint ventures.

With some other people.

And I got a lot of people that
subscribed and then immediately

canceled because I think, and then
all of a sudden I started seeing my

courses pop up on fake sites where
they sell my course for like a dollar.

You know, Um, So I kind of
quickly realized that a lot.

And then a lot of people would just sign
up for money lab pro for $49 and then

download carbon and then fuck off because
carbon, it was $79 and it's like, Hey.

I could get carbonate for $49.

Uh, which was a mistake of mine.

And, and what happened was
I got taken advantage of.

To be honest and.

So basically what I decided
to do was one, the first step

was like, take out carbonate.

So now money lab pro is just the courses
and not carbonate because a lot of

people had just signed up for carbonate
and then signed up for the support.

And then it became, the community
started like getting bombarded

with like support questions.

And I'm like, well,
this isn't a community.

This is just customer support.

It sucks.

So that quickly.

You know, put the kibosh
on that right then.

I started talking to my
community and I'm like, how many?

Like, who's like, What do you value here?

Like w what is this?

Like, why are you still here?

Sort of thing, you know, just kind of
like, cause I was having fun and I knew

other people were having fun, but everyone
said I joined because of the community.

I don't really watch the courses.

And I was like, oh, And that
was like the majority of people.

So I'm like, okay.

Maybe.

All right.

Maybe this is more
valuable than I thought.

Cause like I'm in it every day, you know?

And I'm, and.

And I, and, and there's always
conversations happening and I'm

like, I mean, I personally find it.

Incredibly valuable, like way worse.

The money.

And for me, like I have to spend
the money to keep the community up.

But I get just as much value from it.

As everybody else, because I have, I'm
running a business, multiple businesses.

And so I need help to, I'm
not, you know, And it's great.

Uh, so I decided, and, you know,
with the community, we all kind of

decided that money lab, the community
needed to be this sort of gatekeeper.

Uh, we want it to be professionals.

We want it to be people who are
actually serious, who actually have

blogs, who are trying to scale their
business and, and need that help.

And I have plenty of people in the
community that have like, seen huge growth

this year, which is so awesome to see.

Um, And.

So we took the courses out.

And it's been great.

So, uh, it's, it's an
invite only community, but.

Here's the deal.

You're listening to this.

Um, If you're listening to this
podcast, you and you listened this far.

You are definitely on the inside.

Okay.

Uh, cause this is some like
heavy, dense, you know, advanced.

You know, online business shit.

Right.

And if you like me, Then, you know, I
already know you fit because obviously

I'm not like everybody else out there.

So if you're, if you want
to be, if you want to come.

Uh, you just got to go to money.

lab.co/pro.

There's a whole sales page.

It's 4 99 a year.

Um, And.

Yeah, it's I, I think you should,
if you're very serious about your

business, 2022 is the way that.

It's going to, we're gonna start off.

2022 with a bang, you know, by doing
this big challenge and I'm, I'm all in.

It's going to be sick.

And a good way.

So, um, anyway, those are all the things.

Uh, in money lab.

The.

The website again, decreased by 24%.

So that's not, I mean, money,
lab's weird because it's not a

site that grows with in traffic.

There's no SEO play at all.

Um, I just didn't write as many articles
as I wanted to again, uh, but you know,

every article that I did write quality.

Hi.

Hi.

Hi.

You know, super high
quality top of its class.

Very low.

You know, love each article that I wrote.

So.

Less is more in that case.

Right?

Uh, YouTube increased because
I did that whole YouTube

experiment at the end of the year.

And that is something that I'm going
to really get into in 2022 is I kind

of did the October thing, right.

Where I did a video every day.

I did a few in November and I
had a process, but I was like,

eh, I had other shit to go.

Going on and then like the
end of the year or whatever.

2022, we have an entire editorial
calendar for the first quarter for both

this podcast and the YouTube channel.

So we're kind of, um, focused on.

I say we meaning me.

I focused on the YouTube channel,
the podcast and the website.

So nothing money lab is,
is, is not going anywhere.

Uh, the way that brew
cabin sort of like, yeah.

But I, you know, it's only me.

I got to decide where my
time needs to be spent.

Personally, it needs to be spent at swim
university, doing physical product stuff,

doing, you know, email marketing, Steph's
in charge of everything else over there.

And then.

At money lab, it's just all me.

So I gotta be doing all the content.

I gotta be doing the products, you know,
and I think that those two businesses

and then, you know, brew cabin,
YouTube is like a passion side project.

Perfect amount of work for me.

Right.

Uh, YouTube increased and again,
doing more YouTube in 2022.

Again, I had the entire thing laid out for
the first quarter, so we're good to go.

Um, Affiliate revenue actually was
pretty good for, uh, uh, for some.

Sorry for money lab.

At 5,200 bucks.

Okay.

I made about three grand
in 2022 or sorry, 2020.

Fuck.

Oh, sorry.

With the whole year thing.

This year digital product revenue.

$77,000.

Last year.

Was $60,000.

So it increased not a crazy
increase, but an increase.

Um, I think this year.

I have better systems in place that
I kind of spent a lot of my November

putting into place with this.

You know, I have the perfect post
cheat sheet that people can download.

I have more courses coming out.

I have the courses that already exist.

I, you know, all of these things
are, are here and available.

And total, I mean, 82,000 bucks with.

Um, Money lab.

It's pretty awesome.

It was a 31% increase.

I'll take it.

And I think.

Money lab could be much bigger.

And that's kind of where I am sort of
diversifying within the broader scheme.

It's like I got some
university is doing very well.

I would like money lab
to be some university to.

And brew cabin.

I'm going to continue to just
keep as my passion project, unless

I see that start to take off.

And if that starts to take
off, maybe I will start to hire

and diversify into that area.

Um, but again, That's
the, that's the idea.

Those are the brands and.

That's it.

I highly recommend you read the post.

If you go to money, lab.co/twenty-one,
and that are there, those

are written out by the way.

Um, you can watch all of
my home brewing videos.

You can see the other things that happen.

You know, I told you I got a cat.

I sold my condo in New Jersey,
which was a huge fuck in relief.

Um,

And I started the physical product
thing and I had a bad podcast and

experience, but you can read about it.

You can read more about
that and money lab pro.

I talked about it extensively
in the community cause.

Really.

Was it not a good start to last year, but.

I'm over it and it's, and we're moving on.

But, uh, and I'm I, and the other thing
that I promised my community that I

was going to work on at the end of this
year and did, but also failed at was.

Yeah, paid advertising.

Um, it's something I'm still working on.

I'm still testing different things
and I'm going to get it right.

I'm going to get it right.

And, uh, have a lot to share in the
paid advertising world and talking

about Facebook, YouTube, Google.

Uh, should be fun.

So, yeah.

Uh, what's the plan for 20, 22?

Like I said, um, all the things that
I'm going to continue with those three

brands, things were good this year.

I'm going to just keep
pushing them next year.

Sounds good.

Uh, but specifically.

Uh, I would love to work on a money lab
challenge where I buy and flip a website.

I've been talking about that for
years, but I think I'm ready to do it.

Uh, and I'm very interested in.

Doing SEO and possible this year, which
is a project that, again, another four

years in the making, I've tried multiple
times and I've never just completed it.

So I think this year.

I would like to complete
that in some capacity.

And then honestly, it's like
doubling down on YouTube, man.

It's like, that's where.

YouTube and email marketing.

Honestly.

Uh, that those are like the, uh,
you know, when you pull back the

curtain, you go EO far away and.

You know, I have these two brands, right.

I mean university money, lab brew,
cabin, whatever three brands.

When you.

Pull it back.

It's like the two big pieces
of the, of those pies.

They are YouTube and email marketing.

And I think that that is like,

That's where the money is going
to be made hundred percent.

Um, So that said.

Have a great year rest of your
year, depending on when you hear

this and I'm going to see everyone
in 2022, I'm going to be rested.

Cause I'm taking off.

I'm not going to be working.

I haven't worked really.

In the last week because of the cat.

And I'm just kind of taking a
break to do this podcast and

then putting it up on Monday.

I'm recording this on
Saturday, Saturday morning.

Um, I have a beer Fest to go to.

I'm actually going to a beer Fest.

Uh, that's, it's called a hot beer Fest.

So it's literally hot beer
and you get a glass of beer.

They take a hot poker.

And they stick it in your glass
and it heats up your beer.

And that is what I'm doing today.

So I'm looking forward to that.

And, uh, my parents are coming to
town for the first time ever for

Christmas, which will be a good.

And relaxing.

We've got the whole week planned.

Uh, so yeah.

That's it.

Again, I'm happy holidays.

Happy new year.

Uh, and let's let's, let's make 2022.

Just better.

That's all we can do, right.

Just make it better than it was in 2021.

And I'm excited for it.

I'm excited for it and I'm ready to do it.

And I hope to see you in money, land
pro, if you want to just hang out

and really try to grow your business.

Um, money lab.co/pro.

And meanwhile, I'll be on YouTube
and I'll just be doing this podcast

just like I've always been doing.

So thank you very much for listening.

See you guys in the new year.

Bye bye.

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