5 Lessons From Ali Abdaal's $800k Community

Ali Abdaal, a productivity YouTuber with 5 million subscribers, recently shared insights about his latest venture: Productivity Lab, a $1,000/year community that generated $800,000 in the past year.

While the full 1+ hour video is well worth watching, I know not everyone has the time. So, I've distilled some of the most notable takeaways for you.

The Struggle Is Real

Everyone struggles with naming the product, positioning and pricing. If you’ve built your community, I’m sure these have been the cornerstones of most of your worries. Who this is for? How do we position the product? How much should we charge and what should be the billing cycle?

Rest assured, Ali and his team went through the same troubles. They ended up with a near $1000 per year price point with a yearly billing cycle. 

What is the outcome? 

Ali initially proposed the main value driver to be “double your productivity”, but realized that’s not specific, nor actionable. They ended up with the goal of helping people achieve their goals and take action. 

Consistency vs Intensity

When you start your business, your community, don't mull the idea for months at a time. Instead, try to take immediate action - build a landing page, create a lead magnet, put that in front of people. Preferably with a time constraint. 

Business gets rewarded when action meets opportunity. And you’ll never get the opportunity without action. “Anything good that we’ve created has been from bursts of intensity, rather than slow bursts of consistency over time,” says Ali.

Refunds

Productivity Lab is a product that offers a very generous, one-question-asked refund policy for the community. 

Ali mentions that more than 100 people have already used the option to request a refund and how difficult, on a personal level, it has been to deal with each of the refund requests. 

However, they serve their purpose:

• Reduces risk for the person signing up to zero, 

• Allows him and his team to release a product quicker knowing the product doesn't have to be perfect.

They try to take in a lot of feedback in the process and take quick action on said feedback. 

Set Expectations

Especially if your community is based around a creator or if you as the solo founder are running things you have to realistically set expectations on how much of your time your members are going to be getting. 

The expectations should be framed in the sales page and/or the FAQ.

This was a quick overview from a valuable and relatable 1+ hour video where Ali gives us a sigh of relief - everyone struggles with the same problems when building a community.

However, each person will relate to a different point so I’d encourage you to watch the full video and share your insights with me.