I'm an average Product Designer at best.

But I've taught over 1,000 people who now earn $40 million+ in combined salaries.

And I've generated millions for my own company and helped others build communities too.

Earlier this year, I was on a Times Square billboard for hitting $3k in 30 days as part of a Whop challenge.

How? I ignored what I was mediocre at and became excellent at teaching it instead.

Here's how you can do the same: selling your expertise through building a community that charges at least $2,000+ per member.

What You'll Learn

1. My Background: Love Circular - The context behind building a $3,000/member community

2. Your Starting Point - What you actually need to begin (hint: not money)

3. Categories to Sell To - Health, Wealth, or Love (and which converts best)

4. The Counter-Intuitive Truth - Why high-ticket isn't about premium features

5. Finding Your Transformation Hook - The one clear outcome your community delivers

6. The Price-Value Equation - How to price based on transformation, not time

7. Building Your First Cohort - From 0 to 10 free members to $3,000 paid

8. The Mindset Shift - Why everyone's a salesperson (and that's okay)

9. Your Next 30 Days - The exact week-by-week plan to launch

My Background: Love Circular

Before we get into the how, quick context: Love Circular was my first high-ticket community business. We charged $3,000 for a 3-month Product Design bootcamp. Over six years, we taught 1,300+ students, helped 400+ land jobs, and generated millions in revenue.

I learned everything in this guide by building that business from scratch, including all the mistakes that cost us money and members.

Your Starting Point

High-ticket communities don't require money. They require experience.

You need one of two things:

• Expert-level skill in your field
• A story of overcoming something significant that you can teach others to replicate

Example 1: You lost 100 lbs in a year through diet and exercise. You now have a story, advice, and resources for others chasing the same outcome.

Example 2: You're a Product Designer (my story) who dropped out of university and landed two well-paying jobs before your peers graduated. You understand hiring processes and what interviewers actually look for.

Both examples show how to take what you know and sell the blueprint. The bigger the problem you solve, the more you get paid. It's not about what you think it's worth.

Take a software engineer experienced in Conversion Rate Optimization. They could build a private community for E-commerce Agency CTOs and CMOs to train their technical teams.

A $10,000 investment including 1:1 support, course modules, and access to technical builders is a drop in the ocean for an agency. They can now charge clients for CRO as a bolt-on service.

The price seems steep to someone who's only ever worked a job. But to a company seeking new revenue opportunities? It's a small risk for potentially massive returns.

Categories to Sell To

At its core, you're selling into one of three categories: Health, Wealth, or Love.

Health examples: Weight loss/gain, natural remedies, mindfulness coaching, sleep optimization, chronic pain management

Wealth examples: Investing, marketing, sales, career bootcamps, freelancing, crypto trading, real estate

Love examples: Dating coaching, relationship counseling, social skills training, divorce recovery

These categories aren't equal.

Wealth transformations are easiest to sell at high-ticket prices. The ROI is calculable. I can prove $3k gets you a $60k job. Try proving a dating course is worth $3k when the outcome is "maybe you'll meet someone nice."

Health is second-easiest if you tie it to money. "Lose weight" is vague. "Avoid $50k in diabetes treatment" is a business decision.

Love is hardest to price high unless you're targeting wealthy demographics (executives who struggle to find partners at their level).

I'd always pick wealth for people starting out. The math sells itself.

The Counter-Intuitive Truth

High-ticket doesn't mean premium features. It means premium transformation.

My rule: the customer's transformation needs to be worth at least 10x what they paid.

With Love Circular, we charged less than competitors but had better transformation rates. We sold the outcome, not the course. We sold signal and reduced noise.

The competition packed their offerings with features and modules customers didn't need. That's noise. We removed everything that didn't directly lead to getting hired.

Finding Your Transformation Hook

Your community needs one clear transformation. This is how customers identify themselves in your marketing.

Not:

• "Learn design skills" but "Land your first design job in 90 days"
• "Fitness community" but "Lose 100 lbs in 365 days"

Mine was: "Receive $999 if you land a Product Design role in 3 months"

This hook showed the reward upfront. We generated thousands of leads who paid $3,000. They understood the value before they even clicked.

Around 30% of our members succeeded. They shared results and referred others.

The Price-Value Equation

Most course creators price based on their time or competitor rates. That's backwards.

I priced Love Circular using simple math: Average UK designer salary was $60k/year. We charged $3k. Exactly one month of their future post-tax salary.

Think about that ROI. Invest $3k, land a job, make 20x that in year one. Year two is pure profit.

The formula: Charge 5-10% of the first-year value you create.

• Fitness coach helping someone avoid diabetes? That's $50k in medical costs saved. Charge $2-5k.
• Sales trainer doubling commissions from $80k to $160k? That's $80k value created. Charge $4-8k.

When you price on transformation value instead of course features, high-ticket becomes a no-brainer.

Building Your First Cohort

Your First 10 Users

Start for free. Yes, free.

Momentum matters more than squeezing pennies from your first members. Get 10 people results for free, then focus on getting paid.

I taught design around my day job for 12 months before charging. A year of low-risk learning, skill-crafting, and credibility-building. I built a closed community of 40 free members.

After those 40, the next 1,000+ were all paid.

The Free-to-Paid Transition

Here's what I learned from those 40 free members:

1. Provide a roadmap to success

Members should know exactly what you'll do for them and how.

2. Incremental price changes

Don't jump from $0 to $2,000. Test $99, then $299, then higher.

3. Smaller group sessions = better engagement

Live teaching between 4-12 people is the sweet spot. Small enough to feel premium and exclusive at $2,000+.

4. Grandfather free members into paid community

Bring paid members into an established culture. Reduces the "am I at the right party?" feeling. Many of our successful free members became brand ambassadors.

Your early members are your community's heartbeat.

5. Transformation stories are king

These stories get members. This content is your marketing backbone.

Find where your audience hangs out and put stories in front of them:

• Instagram: Reels and carousels
• LinkedIn: Videos and photo posts with written stories
• Reddit: High-quality responses with open CTAs

I found success sharing stories on Twitter/X, then repurposing them on LinkedIn. We brought in leads daily. One student success post would generate 5 warm leads. We'd convert 2-3 into paid members.

6. Community and learning platforms

Where you house users matters less at first, but sets you up long-term.

Platforms like Skool, Whop, MightyNetworks work well. I've used Whop, MightyNetworks, Slack, and Teachable. Whop was the best and most cost-friendly.

How to Onboard Members

The higher the price, the more touchpoints and "aha!" moments you need.

Emphasize the transformation journey during onboarding. Time to first win is critical for retention and member experience. The longer it takes, the more they question their investment.

Feed users anticipation quickly. Put them in a loop of consistent wins.

My onboarding secret: Create a 5-10 minute Loom/Screen Studio video covering:

1. How to get started making friends and meeting cohort peers

2. How to find their first module and prepare

3. How to get direct support and book calls/sessions

At Love Circular, we always gave users immediate access to a tutorial or resource at point #2. Members who purchased at midnight could start right away. We minimized time to first "aha!"

For point #3, we'd give a calendar link to a staff member for same-day goal-setting and rapport-building. Teachers used this context to get the best from each person.

Over-delivering value instantly was the aim.

The Mindset Shift Behind Selling High-Ticket

I grew up believing salespeople were sleazy. That perception only reflects the minority.

In reality, we're all salespeople. We constantly demonstrate how we can be valuable to others.

You at a job interview: Why you're valuable to the employer and their shareholders

You on a date: Why your qualities make you worth choosing for a long-term partnership

You for your community: Why someone should trust you can help them achieve their goal

Everyone is a salesperson. It's in our best interest to be good at it.

Great sales experiences feel like someone guiding you to make the right decision for you.

Stop thinking:

• "What can I teach?" Start thinking: "What transformation can I guarantee?"
• "What features do I need?" Start thinking: "What outcome do they want?"
• "Am I expert enough?" Start thinking: "Am I one step ahead?"

Your Next 30 Days

Week 1: Write your transformation story

Week 2: Post it daily, see what resonates

Week 3: DM everyone who engages

Week 4: Pre-sell first cohort