A journal idea after his mom’s tragedy → $200k/Month

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Onto Today’s story….

Ollie Aplin was struggling emotionally after his mother's suicide when his therapist suggested journaling as a way to process his grief.

This simple act of regularly writing down his thoughts and feelings in a journal became a revelation for Ollie, helping him significantly in his healing process.

Years late, he started MindJournal to help other people like him and is now making $200k/Month.

Here is how he did it.

After his mother's suicide, Ollie struggled with PTSD and, was reluctant to open up about his feelings.

Then his therapist suggested journaling as a way to process his grief.

It provided him an avenue of privately thinking about how he felt and what was on his mind.

“It was a game-changer of a moment for me.” Ollie says.

Later Ollie got a job and started working as a designer.

Years later, a friend complained that he tried journaling, but that he didn’t really know what to write or how to really use it.

Ollie had a lightbulb moment.

Being a designer, he knew that this was a problem he could solve.

And from that point, MindJournal was born.

He also knew many men would benefit from his journal.

He knew the success of MindJournal would come down to how well it worked, as well as how good it looked.

It had to be simple, and required minimal input from the user, so they could get on and journal.

He knew from personal experience that a crucial component of the journal, was having the right prompts in the right order.

After tons of research and testing, they settled on a core set of 30 questions/tasks that would help users,

to journal their way to happier, healthier and emotionally stronger version of themselves.

He worked with a psychology professor Karen Pine to vet his prompts and questions.

Simultaneously, they worked on branding and marketing.

After months of searching, they found a packaging designer to create a custom journal unlike any other, elegant and simple, yet sturdy for daily use.

He decided to test if his idea had demand and decided to launch on Kickstarter.

As they were planning the marketing of their Kickstarter campaign, they had to nail down who their niche audience was.

They realized it was “any guy that wants to change or improve their life.”

They wanted to create journals specifically for men, that talk about guy issues.

“Being so focused purely on one single audience, has allowed us to laser focus our entire business.” Ollie says.

Ollie planned his Kickstarter campaign for 6 months before launch, obsessing over telling MindJournal's story authentically.

He focused everything around an explosive first day, securing press coverage from major websites like Uncrate, LadBible and The Guardian.

It worked.

The campaign exceeded its funding goal, validating the idea and helping finance the first production.

Ollie was still working in his day job, doing this on the side.

While PR was great for launch, Ollie found they needed other channels for recurring growth.

They then started focusing on email marketing with their newsletter, providing genuine value first before promoting products.

They didn’t knew how to build and grow a business and they learnt as they went along.

They didn’t hide this.

They shared this with their customers in their newsletter.

By being vulnerable and honest about this in building their business, to their customers, they resonated even more with their core demographic.

MindJournal continued to grow and was making enough money.

Ollie quit his job.

He then started selling more products like Mind Journal Pro, Balance Planner and Weekly workout Planner.

Sales continued to grow.

Now they make $200k/Month.

Ollie says…

“There’s no right time to start a business,

so my advice to anyone is to always start.

just go for it. Have fun and enjoy it.”

By living his mission of helping men journal their way to better wellbeing each day,

he hopes to touch millions of lives.

10 reasons why they succeeded

1. Decided to help others with the solution he used himself.

• Ollie used journaling to help his own grief and PTSD after his mom's suicide

• His friend complained he didn't know how to effectively journal, giving Ollie the idea

• Ollie used his design skills to create an elegant journal to help others

2. Focused on a specific niche

• Ollie's friend struggled to journal effectively on his own

• Ollie realized he could design a solution tailored to guys wanting self-improvement

• He worked tirelessly on branding and prompts so the journal uniquely served men.

3. Vetted his content with an expert

• Ollie worked with psychology professor Karen Pine

• She helped validate the journal prompts and questions he had developed

4. Focused both on the looks as well as content.

• He designed his journals to have a stylish yet sturdy look unlike competitors

• He also made sure it had the best prompts and questions in the right order.

5. Validated his product

• He launched his Journal on Kickstarter without quitting his job first

• It allowed him to validate the idea and earn the first influx of money.

6. He was authentic and vulnerable

• He openly told his audience that he is learning marketing as he goes

• His honesty about figuring things out resonated with guys starting out too

• This built loyalty with his customers.

7. Expanded with more products

• The original Mind Journal was the first product to validate the concept

• After it took off, he expanded into other related journal products

8. Left his job, only when he was ready.

• Ollie started MindJournal as a side project working nights and weekends

• As revenue kept climbing, he eventually felt comfortable leaving his job

9. Focused on his mission

• Ollie aims to help millions of men improve their life via reflective journaling

• He genuinely focused first on helping others over making profits.

10. He just started and learnt as he went

• Ollie advises not to overthink but jump right in

• He iterated on ideas, marketing until he found what worked

• Being adaptable and getting started allowed him to stumble into an amazing business

Hope you enjoyed the story and their success tactics.

Let the good times roll for you!.

Yours “Making you Win” Vijay Peduru