What does it take to earn $67,000 in 5 days?

If you’d told me 3 years ago that my online business would have a $67,000+ week, I’d say you were crazy. I’d never made that much in an entire year!

I had no idea what it would take to make that kind of money so quickly. Honestly, I didn’t think it was possible. It seemed like the type of thing that would happen to someone else, not me.

At the very least I thought it would require:

  • Launching a new product
  • Offering a discount as an incentive
  • Doing obscene amounts of promotion

After all, that’s what I saw other people doing.

But I’m happy to report that I was able to make $67,122 in sales — in just 5 days — without doing any of those things.

From March 28 through April 1, I made $67,122.

I’ve discovered that you can squeeze more sales than you ever thought possible out of your business using 4 simple strategies.

Strategy #1: Use a “reverse discount” to create a stampede of sales

Discounting your prices is the fastest and easiest way to get more products flying off the shelf.

It’s also one of the deadliest things you can do to your business.

Sure, you’ll reap short-term spike in sales. But the long-term effects of discounting are toxic:

  • It cheapens your product or service
  • It trains your customers to always wait for a sale before they buy anything
  • It pisses off customers who paid full price before you announced the discount

Even big businesses aren’t immune to these effects. For example, The Gap has been discounting for years, and it’s practically destroyed the company.

The truth is, you can still move a boatload of units without slashing your prices. The secret is using what I call the Reverse Discount.

The way it works is simple. Instead of lowering your price, you raise it! But you warn people a few days in advance, so they still have a chance to buy at the current, lower price.

This is exactly what I did in my $67K launch. On Monday, I sent out an email letting my readers know that I’d be raising the price of my course from $297 to $497. They had until Friday to buy it at the original price.

This approach creates the same benefit as a discount — it gives people a reason to buy right away — but with none of the drawbacks.

Far from devaluing and cheapening your product or service, the Reverse Discount makes your offer appear more valuable, since the price is going up instead of down.

The Reverse Discount doesn’t slow down future sales either. If anything, it will speed them up because people know you are apt to raise your price at any time. (Since launching my course in 2014, I’ve raised the price on 3 separate occasions, and my business has continued to grow the entire time.)

And all of your customers will be happy that they got in before the price increase. So everyone wins.

Regardless of what you’re selling (a product, service, coaching, etc.), there are a few telltale signs that it might be time to raise your price:

  • You’re no longer excited to make a sale or close a deal
  • Your sales are steady and consistent. If people are regularly buying your product or service, that means you’ve got a winner on your hands — and you can probably charge more for it
  • Your customers are raving about your product and your price in the same sentence

Telltale sign: One of my customers on Quora saying my course is worth more than I’m charging.

Raising your price will feel a little scary. It did for me. But succeeding in business isn’t for the faint of heart.

There’s no chart, graph, or equation that can definitively tell you when it’s time to raise your price. Pay attention to the signs I just mentioned — then listen to your gut.

Here’s how to get the most out of your Reverse Discount:

  • Give people enough time to act, but not so much time that it slips their mind altogether. I recommend letting them know you’re raising your price 5 days in advance.
  • Send at least one reminder email per day leading up to the price hike. (I’ll show you exactly how to do this later in this post.)
  • Raise your price by at least 40-50%. A small, token increase might feel less risky, but it signals a lack of confidence and doesn’t offer people enough financial incentive to get them motivated.

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This is the exact 5-day email sequence I used, along with my results.

Want to 10x the sales power of your emails? Try these strategies:

  • Always deliver value. Period. Someone should be able to read all of your emails and feel like they didn’t waste their time even if they don’t buy from you. Ironically, you’ll get more sales this way. And the easiest way to do this is to…
  • Give away free tips. Don’t worry about giving away too much for free. Think of what happens when you’re in Barnes and Noble reading a book: Do you decide not to buy it because you’ve just read 25 pages for free — or do you buy it that much faster because you love what you’ve read so far?
  • Mix up your content. You should also give value by showing off your case studies, telling motivational stories, and using pictures that keep people interested and engaged. This keeps things light and fresh since you’re not repeating the same boring sales message. Have some fun with it.

The opening of email #5 — stories and pictures are powerful!

Don’t overcomplicate this

Most people assume you need complex sales funnels and sophisticated marketing techniques to generate $67,000 in sales in 5 days.

But that’s not true. (Which is good for me because I don’t know how to do the complicated stuff!)

You can do it with the exact steps I’ve outlined in this post.

A summary of my $67K launch.

The more you focus on helping others, the easier this process becomes.

As I help more and more people, my own life gets better and better, too. So I want to help as many people as possible get what they want.

That’s the best thing about the strategies I just laid out for you is that they’ve allowed me to touch the lives of more people than I would have ever dreamed possible just a few short years ago.

I never thought I’d be able to help people reach their goals.

Are you surprised to see what really goes into a $67,000 week? What did you find most interesting about this “behind the scenes” look?

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

And if you have any questions, drop them in the comments, too. I’ll do my best to answer them today.

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Strategy #2: Create true urgency to entice people to buy right away

If you give people an infinite amount of time to buy, they will take forever to make a decision.

That’s just human nature. How many times have you sat around thinking about making a purchase, only to end up postponing it indefinitely?

Many sleazy marketers try to solve this problem by creating false urgency.

If you’ve ever seen a car dealer advertise a sale “this weekend only” — every single weekend! — then you know exactly what I’m talking about.

I’ve also seen online sellers set a deadline for a price increase, only to “accidentally” let it lapse by several hours or days to let the stragglers in.

Not only are these tactics unethical, they also work against you in the long run, because no one takes your deadline seriously.

There’s a great solution to all of this…

Rather than having no deadline — or having a BS one — you can parlay your Reverse Discount to getting your customers to buy sooner rather than later by creating true urgency.

This was one of the key strategies behind my $67,000 week. I set a deadline for the price increase — then I stuck to it.

When I received emails from latecomers, I didn’t budge, even though I felt bad about it (and could have earned thousands of dollars more in the short term by making exceptions).


Be firm with your deadlines, and people will respect them.

If you want to create true urgency that drives people to action quickly, do these 3 things:

  • Be specific. Don’t set just a date for your price increase — set an exact time, too, e.g. “Friday, June 17th at 11:59pm EST.” This makes it clear so it will stick out in people’s minds and prevent them from forgetting.
  • Don’t be too aggressive. When you send email reminders (which we’ll cover in more detail shortly), make them friendly. Never use urgency to pressure people to buy — it’ll only backfire by making them dislike you.
  • Tell people why you’re raising your price. This shouldn’t be about you. It should be something relevant to the reader. I told people the price of my course was going up because of the great results my students were seeing. But you can use whatever reason fits for your situation. For example, you might say you’ve improved your product or service, or you want to make it more exclusive so members can benefit more.

Strategy #3: Craft simple, mouthwatering case studies

There’s no way around it: If you want to see an avalanche of sales, you need to show people proof that you can get them get results.

The good news is this takes a lot of the pressure off of you. You don’t have to convince or persuade anyone to buy from you…instead you let the people you’ve helped do the selling for you.

It may sound harsh, but your readers don’t care much about you. They’re much more interested in hearing from your previous customers. You’ll get more sales by showcasing their successes than you will with 100 marketing gimmicks.

So I emailed a few of my successful customers and asked them if they’d be willing to let me write about their experiences. Practically all of them said yes.

Then I called to ask them about their results and stories. I took lots of notes. I also asked for a couple of pictures of themselves, as well as screenshots of their results.

Then I wrote a blog post about each person and emailed it to my readers. Check out this example:

A case study of one of my successful students.

Here are some tips for creating awesome case studies that turn readers into buyers:

  • Silence the little voice telling you this strategy is only for “advanced” business people. If you’ve helped even one person, you can and should turn that into a case study to help you sell your product or service. (Your readers will appreciate it, too, since it will help them make an informed decision.)
  • Tell your customer’s story. Make THEM the hero — not you. The case study should start with their challenge — the reason they came to you — and end with them achieving their goals. Remember: You are the “Yoda” of this story; they are the “Luke Skywalker.”
  • Describe everything in concrete detail. Don’t say, “John was having trouble losing weight.” Say, “Even though John was going to the gym 5 days a week, he couldn’t manage to lose those last 10 pounds.” Or rather than, “Jane increased her confidence,” say, “Jane can now go to her friends’ weddings and have a good time without worrying about social anxiety rearing its ugly head.”
  • Add practical value to your case studies. Explain some of the “how to” behind the hero’s success. For example, in this case study I explain exactly how Sharmin got her first two freelancing clients. This adds tremendous value for readers since they can use that information to duplicate her success and improve their lives immediately.

Strategy #4: Create a short email funnel

As a freelance copywriter, I’ve had many clients ask me to write 30 days’ worth of emails every time they launched a new promotion.

But as a Zero To Launch graduate, one of the coolest things I’ve learned is that a short email sequence often works just as well. And it only takes a fraction of the time and energy to write.

That’s the strategy I used to fuel my $67k week: I sent out a grand total of 6 emails. Here’s a quick breakdown of what each contained:

  • Email #1 explained my offer (i.e. “This is the last week to buy for $297”)
  • Email #2 offered value. I gave away a useful tip from my course.
  • Email #3 showed my readers case studies of successful students.
  • Email #4 contained the answers to the most frequently asked questions people have about buying.
  • Emails #5 and #6 were “final reminders” that amped up the urgency to buy my course before the price increased. But they also contained a lot of motivation and additional tips that would help readers even if they chose not to purchase.
Subject Line Sent On Open Rate Click Rate
The price of Secrets Of A Six-Figure Upworker is going up Monday 11:00 am EST 25.7% 4.3%
My secret for getting tons of clients on Upwork Tuesday 11:50 am EST 32.1% 1.9%
Proof you can succeed on Upwork (from real SSFU graduates) Wednesday 11:00 am EST 31.3% 5.2%
Is Secrets Of A Six-Figure Upworker right for you? Thursday 11:00 am EST 28.8% 2.8%
Last chance — price goes up tonight Friday 11:30 am EST 18.8% 1.6%
Final call + My biggest freelancing mistakes (and how to avoid them) Friday 6:30 pm EST 28.8% 4.3%