A Lifechanging Course Launch through the Power of Community
Meet Steve Huynh, a YouTuber, Principal Engineer, and self-proclaimed “productivity junkie.” In 2023, Steve combined all three specialties to engineer his first-ever course launch, opening up a world of new possibilities and reshaping his path in ways he never imagined.
Here’s how Steve made it happen.
“The community and content are strong and give you confidence that you’re doing the right thing.”
—Steve Huynh
Steve joined the All-Access Pass community in the summer of 2023 with a 100k subscriber head start on his YouTube channel, @ALifeEngineered. But he was looking for more than just incremental audience growth — Steve was aiming to start scaling and monetizing what he could offer his audience.
With 18 years in the tech industry as a software engineer, Steve’s mission is to nurture technology professionals like himself, fostering a growth mindset and accelerating their careers as quickly as possible.
Steve set out to create a course to further these aims and better serve his audience. But like many first-time course creators, he had concerns about the intricacies of launching successfully. What would the pricing structure be? How would he market the course and through what channels? Should he launch the course to a beta group first? Would his students have lifetime access or would he offer a subscription model?
Questions like these can be dizzying for entrepreneurs like Steve; in his search for answers, he found the All-Access Pass. “SPI provides clarity and a recipe for success in areas that are highly ambiguous and frankly scary to confront all by yourself,” he says. “The community and content are strong and give you confidence that you’re doing the right thing.”
Leaving a Career at Amazon to Realize a Dream
Inside the All-Access Pass — SPI’s premiere community-led education platform specifically designed for early-stage entrepreneurs — Steve uncovered the answers he was looking for. The community provides its members with a library of courses, ways to connect, guided course accelerators, access to experts, and more.
“Without SPI I know for a fact that things would not have gone so smoothly,” Steve emphasizes. “SPI helped me set up the offer, structure the program, and with pricing.” He also mentions that A to Z Webinars, his favorite course, was key to his success.
Steve realized that his program was potentially lucrative for students — helping software professionals get promoted as quickly as possible, their earnings might increase by tens of thousands of dollars or more. Steve decided to design his course around a high-ticket model with two price points: $4,000 for standard access and $8,000 for premium access.
He marketed his course with a combination of YouTube content, an email list of 5k subscribers, and guest spots on other email lists. He then launched the course with a live-stream webinar on YouTube with 445 concurrent viewers at its peak.
“I grossed a healthy six figures in sales for my first cohort,” Steve says. “I can’t believe it still.”
But Steve didn’t stop there, planning to expand his offerings to include a community and more courses at lower entry points. Best of all, with more recurring income in sight, Steve finally realized one of his biggest entrepreneurial dreams: he left his 18-year career at Amazon to focus solely on his business.
After the initial cohort launch, Steve decided to run another. This time, he gave his audience a weekend to join—sales increased by 30 percent, concrete validation that leaving his day job was the right choice. (He released this video on his YouTube channel detailing the move.)
“This was not really concrete for me in 2023,” Steve admits. “After the successful launch, this has all changed. If I can do it so can you.”
Somewhat fortuitously, Steve ran into Pat at VidSummit in 2023, before the launch of Steve’s course. “He really helped calm my nerves,” Steve says. “It really helped give me the confidence I needed to launch the program. A million thanks to Pat and the team. This stuff works, guys.”
Looking Up
“If I can do it, so can you.”
—Steve Huynh
Steve emphasizes how powerful it is to have your own product to offer on your content, rather than relying on advertisers and ad-sense revenue. “It’s such a pain to maintain relationships and to produce content for needy advertisers,” he says. With the help of the All-Access Pass community, Steve is on the verge of further accelerated business growth.
When asked about the future, Steve says “I’d like to be time rich and not necessarily money rich. That too, but having the freedom to do what I want when I want to is priceless. This is not really an option with my corporate job.”
With his newfound wealth of time, the only way for Steve to go is up. And with a strong community behind him, the possibilities seem limitless.
Lightning Round:
Biggest takeaway or aha moment from All-Access Pass
The biggest challenges were emotional. It’s a rollercoaster putting yourself out there. Once I got a handle on that the rest was easy in comparison.
Favorite course in All-Access Pass
A to Z Webinars.
Unexpected benefit of All-Access Pass
I still can’t believe all of the courses are included for such a small price.