My Kajabi Story: Why I Chose the All-in-One Platform to Run My Online Business

Come read my Kajabi story and see if you can relate - to that feeling of being burnt out, drowning in your tech stack, and wanting to simplify your business. Kajabi can help.

The Kajabi all-in-one business solution has been around since 2010, so almost 12 years at this point. I discovered them in late 2016. But many people have never heard of Kajabi - or have, but wonder what the heck all the fuss is about. So I thought I'd share my Kajabi story with you.

I may receive commissions for purchases made through links on my site. Please see my full disclosure for further information. All images in this blog post are from one of my favorite photo sites, Inspired Stock Shop

I Was a Successful, Booked-Out VA with Burnout in the Headlights

First, some background: Prior to finding Kajabi, I was a successful, booked-out VA (virtual assistant). I'd done B-School in early 2015, had my niche down, and I knew how to reach them and talk to them. I was getting referrals, even sometimes turning away clients because I was so busy.

My Tech Stack Was Out of Control and I Wanted to Shift From Services to Digital Products

The only thing holding me back from greater success was my tech (maybe you can relate?).

I abhor working with WordPress but that's where my site was ... my ugly site with 82 (ha) plugins that still didn't help it look or function like I wanted. Plugin conflicts would cause it to go down, with potential clients emailing me, "Uh, I was looking into working with you but your site is down" (for a VA ... NOT GOOD).

Mailchimp, Thinkific, Acuity, and PayPal invoicing rounded out the picture. Looking ahead, I knew it was time for change. After 10 years, I wanted to first refine my offers and then eventually phase out being a service provider (burnout, anyone?).

I started looking at where I could host courses, maybe eventually a membership, sell ebooks, that sort of thing. I'd learned so much in my years online that I wanted to share that knowledge and join the passive income gang.

I Looked Into Other Course Platforms and All-In-Ones

Teachable was SO basic. Thinkific, a bit better but still pretty rigid, great for students but didn't love it on the admin side. Plus I'd still have email, etc. housed elsewhere and have to duct tape it all together with Zapier and whatnot.

I tried another all-in-one that some of my clients used but then the platform jacked up their prices, plus the design was basically a blank-slate. I'm not a designer nor did I want to pay one or spend my whole life designing Canva graphics to spice it all up. (Looking back, leaving was meant to be; really dodged a bullet there).

Also, at one point, I was THISCLOSE to not only signing up with Ontraport but taking their certification course so I could run my business with it and help clients with it.

I'd used it a bit with one short-term client. But, man, it was expensive for what you got! I asked around to colleagues who'd been using it. They said overall that it was an older platform, very clunky with few updates and not great service. So there went that plan 👎🏼

That Time I Discovered Kajabi

I wanted to always stay a solopreneur so hiring things out wasn't an option. I started looking around some more and in 2016, I found Kajabi ... clouds parted, angels sang, and I dove in headfirst.

Honestly, I had avoided looking into Kajabi because I thought it was all "market-y" and corporate-looking. But I found out that it's much more flexible design-wise and I could easily make sites and pages that I'd be proud of.

Bonus: It was a trillion times easier to use than WordPress. And since blogging was essential for me, I was thrilled to find that IT HAS A BLOGGING FEATURE. (Did you hear Teachable just ditched theirs?).

And whaddya' know? I have a course on that! Heh.
👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

Blogging with Kajabi

How I Made Peace with Kajabi's Pricing ☮️

So to make a long story ... even longer 😂 ... I decided to take Kajabi up on their free trial.

However, I was stressing on the price (even though I've since proven that the price of Kajabi is likely less than our tech stack).

So I set myself a goal that I'd create and sell a new service that would make Kajabi at least pay for itself, so that I could take that off my worry plate. Within a day or two, I'd fleshed out my idea for a Virtual VIP Day, set up the offer and checkout, made a sales page, and emailed it out to my peeps - all inside Kajabi.

I'm like, "Yeah, we gotta winner here. This platform is IT!"

Kajabi Is So Easy to Use; I'm Never Going Back to WordPress

I couldn't believe how easy it was. No more "Grrrr! I'm about to throw my computer out the window!!" moments like I had with WordPress + Mailchimp + figuring out a cart to use.

By then, PayPal had held thousands of dollars hostage from me - nothing scary, just payments from VA clients - and I couldn't wait to get away from them. In my cart search, I tried SamCart and it was mondo expensive for what it provided plus it looked so ... bro-ish. Wow, SURE dodged another bullet there! (Did you hear what they did in the Kajabi group?! Yike).

I did a 28-day Kajabi free trial, settled in to learn it and get set up over the holiday season of 2016, and before I officially signed up and made my first payment, I'd already sold a few VIP days. That covered several months of Kajabi, phew!

That left me to focus on my clients, making my VIP Days rad so I could up the price, and then I added more services, sent more emails, created more sales pages, etc.

It was so easy, I thought there must be a catch, lol. But, no, what I found instead was: A supportive cheerleader of a company, fabulous fellow Kajabians, a huge non-pitchfest conference where I made helpful connections and met the Kajabi team, rewards for reaching milestones, a chat team that I bugged so much, I think they knew me in a "Norm!" at Cheers kind of way but were always super nice, and more.

I Went All In and Became a Kajabi VA

Shortly after using and learning all the ins and outs of Kajabi, I became such a believer in its power, that I became a "Kajabi VA" and only worked on Kajabi projects.

A year or two later, I hit 12 years as a VA. I was feeling pretty burnt out and decided I needed a break from discovery calls and taking on new clients. With some clicks of a button, I removed all my services from my site, finished up with my current projects, took a vacation (my first in several years), and then started anew ... all in Kajabi.

Now I'm a content creator and blogger primarily. I'm blessed with some long-term (past) clients that I'll keep working with as long as they need me, I have the blogging course, I make affiliate income, etc. While all my income doesn't reflect in my Kajabi dashboard, I still owe it all to them 💙

Kajabi vs Other (Supposed) All-in-Ones

Just to stay informed, I do still check out the "new kids on the block", the other apps that come out trying to compete with Kajabi. But none of 'em come even close. It makes sense; Kajabi has been around for 10+ years and their customers have made over a billion dollars. They've got it dialed in and everyone else will always be steps behind.

I also think motivation or Kajabi's WHY make the difference. Kajabi was started to address a problem one of the founders had: How to sell his digital product for kids online in a way that didn't take a coder or tech geek to set up and manage.

I don't hear that kind origin story from the other apps that've followed, so one suspects the motivation was more along the lines of, "This is a money-making industry (online learning) and I want a piece of it." Well, it's subtle but super important, that difference, in how the company you choose will support you (or not).

Plus, honestly, I don't think anyone else's mission is as clear.

And you may think that price or features should be the deciding factor in which platform you choose.

But for me, Kajabi's company culture has informed everything they do to serve me as a customer, and therefore things I do to serve my customers. These types of things are way more important than I anticipated.

I consider myself super lucky that this is where I landed, that I made that one fateful decision in 2016 which has so hugely impacted my business, my family, and my future for the good. 🍀

Kajabi Free Trial

So that's my Kajabi story!! There are thousands more success stories. They're posted in the Facebook group every day - success measured by 6- and 7-figure dashboards or, like me, by a hugely improved business and quality of life because of Kajabi.

I love hearing them because it's very encouraging to know you're in the right place, aligned with the right people, and using the right platform.

Maybe now it's more clear to you why I'm such a Kajabi-vangelist, huh? 😂 Want to get in on the fun??? (and money-making)?

Take a chance on Kajabi with this extended trial, only offered by Partners like me HERE. See you on the other side! 

xo,