Well Beyond Practice - Online Business for Health + Wellness Practitioners

Hosted by Dr. Alison McLean DPT, ERYT, HHP

Business Entrepreneurship

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368

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Oct 2026

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For wellness practitioners — physical therapists, yoga teachers, acupuncturists, health coaches and massage therapists — ready to go beyond private practice and build an online business and stop trading time for money in the clinic. Host Alison McLean, DPT, ERYT, HHP, rebuilt her own practice online after a health event shifted her in-person work. Now she works less at multiple six figures — and teaches skilled clinicians how to do the same without overworking or losing credibility. Turn your clinical expertise into income that isn't tied to appointments only. New episodes weekly.

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October 20, 202625 min

367. Maternity Leave, Surgery, or a Month in Europe: How to Keep Your Income When You Stop Seeing Clients

A surgery, a new baby, or a three-week trip to Italy should not mean your income drops to zero. For most physical therapists, massage therapists, yoga teachers, acupuncturists, and chiropractors, it does, because every dollar is tied to a session on the calendar. In this episode of The Well Beyond Practice Podcast, Dr. Alison McLean, DPT, walks through the one thing most wellness practitioners never plan for: real time off. Maternity leave. Cross-country road trips. Health scares. Caring for aging parents. Life happens, and if your revenue stops the moment you stop seeing clients, you’re not running a business. You’re running on a treadmill. You already have the skills, certifications, and clinical experience to build an online program that brings in revenue while you’re out of the treatment room. You don’t need fancy funnels, expensive software, or a massive audience. You need a plan, and this episode gives you the first steps of it. In this episode: Design with the destination in mind. Start with the schedule you actually want, including the weeks you’ll be away, and work backwards to the business that supports it. The Bare Minimum Systems framework. How to stay visible on Instagram and keep selling while you’re on leave, traveling, or recovering. Launch now, not “someday.” Why waiting for life to calm down is the most expensive decision a practitioner can make. Revenue math that works. How a $597 self-paced program and a $1,200 guided option add up fast with a handful of clients. Real client wins. A brand-new Instagram account that went viral overnight, and a practitioner who enrolled three online clients before her baby arrived. Questions this episode answers Can a wellness practitioner take maternity leave without losing income? Yes, if an online program is built and selling before the leave starts. One practitioner in this episode enrolled three online clients before her baby arrived, so revenue kept coming in while she was home with her newborn. How much can a small online program make for a physical therapist or massage therapist? With a $597 self-paced option and a $1,200 guided option, five self-paced enrollments and three guided enrollments bring in $6,585, without a single in-person session. Do I need a big Instagram following to sell an online wellness program? No. Alison hit six figures online with under 2,000 Instagram followers, and one client’s brand-new account went viral within days of launching. What should I set up before taking time off from my practice? A simple online offer, a Bare Minimum Systems plan for staying visible, and a schedule designed around the time off you want, built before you need it. Ready to build yours? Join 100K Online, Alison’s 6-month group program for licensed wellness practitioners: https://wellunbound.com/100k-online/ Follow along on Instagram: @wellunbound Ready to work with me? Book a consultation call on my website! → https://wellunbound.com

October 13, 202629 min

366. Are Your In-Person Classes Worth It? The Hourly Rate Math for Wellness Practitioners

The $1,200 Lie: How Your In-Person Classes Are Secretly Robbing Your Time You teach three community classes a week, drive twenty-five minutes each way to the studio, and spend Sunday night writing up sequences and attendance notes. The deposit hits your account as $1,200 a month, and you file it under “reliable income.” Then you tell yourself you can’t find two hours to build the online program you’ve been sketching in your notebook since spring. When you add the drive, the prep, and the paperwork, that $1,200 is costing you more than 16 hours every week, and most of those hours never show up on the invoice. In this episode, I walk you through the math I use with my clients to calculate what each class actually pays you per hour. Then I give you three questions to run every class, workshop, and event through, so you can keep the ones that bring you clients and reclaim the hours that don’t, without walking away from the in-person community you’ve built. Staying busy and staying profitable are two different numbers. Key takeaways from this episode: Why $1,200 a month from community classes quietly costs you 16+ unpaid hours every week Three questions to evaluate whether a class, workshop, or event is worth your time How to calculate your real hourly rate, including drive time, prep, and documentation The back-end strategy that turns even free events into referrals and paying clients Why Instagram reaches more potential clients per hour than a room of ten, and how to get past the fear of showing up on camera The costly mistake of jumping from one-to-ones straight into a group program, and the order to scale in instead Join me in the 100K Online Group Program here: https://wellunbound.com/100k-online/ Follow me on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/wellunbound/

October 6, 202635 min

365. How a Yoga Therapist Got Out of "200-View Jail" on Instagram and Signed More Clients Without Chasing Trends, with Krista Quinn

Krista Quinn posted on Instagram consistently for months and rarely got past 200 views. Then she stopped chasing funny trending formats and went back to sharing her own story of chronic low back pain. That post reached nearly 40,000 views. Krista is a yoga therapist, a personal trainer, and the founder of Krista Quinn Health. She helps women get lasting relief from chronic back, hip, and SI pain through online brain-based yoga therapy and personal training. She is also my client. While we worked together, her Instagram account grew from about 1,300 followers to about 2,100, and several of her posts passed 20,000 views. She signed five to six new clients, and three to four of them found her on Instagram. In this episode of The Well Beyond Practice Podcast, Krista and I talk about what she changed and what it took to keep showing up as a solopreneur who does all of it herself. In this episode: How Krista got out of "200-view jail." She believed no small creator could break through on Instagram. The post that reached nearly 40K views was the one where she shared what she does in her own way. Why her Instagram clients book a call already decided. They have read her story and watched her explain her method before they ever talk to her. One new client told her, "I'm happy to meet you, but I'm already in." How she got comfortable being seen. Krista explains how she used EFT tapping to feel safe putting her face and her story on camera. Sitting with discomfort as a business owner. Krista calls it "the number one thing you can learn to do," especially when you have no boss or HR department telling you that you did a good job. Turning her framework into an online program. She is building her signature framework into a program she offers alongside her 1:1 sessions. Boundaries during a hard season. Caring for her cat, Bako, changed how she protects her time and energy in her business. Resources mentioned Connect with Krista Quinn: Instagram: @thehappylowbackyogi Website: kristaquinnhealth.com Free webinar: Replace Your In-Person Clinic Salary Online I'm teaching this live on Wednesday, October 7 at 10:30 AM PT. I'll show you how to add online income alongside the clients you already see in person. Register here: https://100k-blueprint.pages.ontraport.net/work-from-home Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wellunbound/ Ready to work with me? Book a consultation call at https://wellunbound.com

September 29, 202638 min

364. Why Clients Say "I Need to Think About It" After Your Wellness Consult

On this episode of The Well Beyond Practice Podcast, Alison McLean, DPT, describes a consultation she booked as a client and explains what it showed her about why wellness clients leave a consult without buying. She booked the appointment with a practitioner she already knew and trusted because her back, hip, and knee were hurting. She expected to walk out with a plan for her body. She walked out holding the name of a program she had never heard of and a modality she wasn't sure fit her. There was no clear next step. The sales page she was sent afterward didn't mention her back, her hip, or her knee. Alison is a practitioner herself, so she could fill in the gaps and talk herself into the outcome. Most of your clients can't do that. When the path from "my knee hurts" to "this program is for me" isn't laid out for them, they go home and don't come back. Use this episode to look at your own client journey from the outside, the way your next client will see it. In this episode: Why showing a client what you offer and how to buy it is part of caring for her, the same way giving her a home program is What a person needs from you when she scrolls past you for the first time, when she's been following you for a few months, and when she's ready to book, and what to give her at each stage The evaluation mistake: pitching a program during the consult that the client had never heard of before she walked in Why texting a high-ticket client a sales-page link after the call loses the sale, especially when that page never names the problem she came in with How to pre-sell through your content and emails so she arrives at the consult already knowing your program exists and hoping you'll offer it to her The mindset blocks that keep practitioners from posting and making offers, and why staying quiet leaves the woman with the sore knee to figure it out on her own Questions this episode answers: Why do wellness clients say "I need to think about it" after a consultation? Usually the offer came as a surprise. If the first time a client hears about your program is in the middle of her consult, she has to learn what it is, decide whether it fits her body, and decide about the price all in one sitting. Most people won't make all three decisions at once. Should I send a sales page link after a high-ticket consult? A link on its own asks the client to sell herself. At a higher price point, walk her through how the program solves the problem she described, and make the next step clear before the call ends. What does pre-selling mean for a wellness practitioner? Pre-selling means your posts, emails, and podcast episodes teach people what your program is and who it's for before they ever book a call. A client who has seen that shows up to the consult ready to talk about starting instead of trying to understand what you're offering. Resources Mentioned: Free Webinar: “Replace Your In-Person Clinic Salary Online” – Oct 7th Want to build your own income stream that doesn’t depend on your body showing up every day? I am teaching a free webinar, Replace Your In-Person Clinic Salary Online, on October 7th at 10:30 AM PST. Register here: https://100k-blueprint.pages.ontraport.net/work-from-home Follow me on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/wellunbound/ Ready to work with me? Book a consultation call on my website! → https://wellunbound.com

September 22, 202632 min

363. Why So Many Health Practitioners Dislike Posting on Social Media

If you're a physical therapist, yoga teacher, massage therapist, or health coach who dislikes posting on social media, the problem probably isn't the camera or the algorithm. In this episode of the Well Beyond Practice Podcast, Dr. Alison McLean, DPT, a physical therapist, licensed massage therapist, yoga therapist, and business coach for wellness practitioners, explains why so many skilled practitioners avoid posting online, and why that avoidance keeps them trading hours for dollars in their practice instead of reaching new clients through Instagram. Most practitioners who dislike social media are actually afraid of being judged by colleagues and afraid of saying something that isn't perfectly backed by research. Alison shares the time she was told not to teach yoga, what happened when she listened to that voice, and the three mindset shifts that help practitioners post with confidence. In this episode: Why a fear of posting on social media is really a fear of being wrong, not a fear of the camera Alison's story of being told not to teach yoga, and what it cost her when she listened Why evidence-based research isn't as black-and-white as practitioners are taught in school Three mindset shifts for posting with confidence How one practitioner's reel reached more than 2 million views and brought in hundreds of new leads Why do wellness practitioners dislike posting on social media? Most physical therapists, yoga teachers, massage therapists, and other licensed practitioners who dislike posting on social media are not uncomfortable with the camera. They are afraid of being judged by other professionals in their field and afraid of posting something a colleague could call wrong. Clinical training teaches practitioners to only say what research has proven, so sharing a personal opinion online feels risky. Is evidence-based practice black-and-white? No. Dr. McLean explains that research findings are rarely as definitive as practitioners are taught, which means a practitioner sharing what they have seen work with their own patients is not being unprofessional. How can a wellness practitioner post on social media with confidence? Dr. McLean teaches three mindset shifts: Report your experience instead of issuing verdicts. Share what you have seen in your own practice rather than making claims about what is true for everyone. Define who your work is for and who it isn't for, so you stop writing posts that try to satisfy every colleague who might read them. Lead with service instead of proof, so each post is written to help one specific client rather than to defend your credentials. Can social media actually bring clients to a wellness practice? Yes. Dr. McLean shares how one practitioner she coaches posted a reel that reached more than 2 million views and generated hundreds of new leads. Who is this episode for? Licensed wellness practitioners, including physical therapists, yoga teachers, massage therapists, acupuncturists, chiropractors, and health coaches, who want to grow their income beyond one-on-one sessions but avoid posting online. Resources Mentioned: Free Webinar: “Replace Your In-Person Clinic Salary Online” – Oct 7th Want to build your own income stream that doesn’t depend on your body showing up every day? I am teaching a free webinar, Replace Your In-Person Clinic Salary Online, on October 7th at 10:30 AM PST. Register using the link in the show notes! https://100k-blueprint.pages.ontraport.net/work-from-home Follow me on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/wellunbound/ Ready to work with me? Book a consultation call on my website! → https://wellunbound.com

September 15, 202633 min

362. From Architecture to Acupuncture: Michelle Oravitz on Hybrid Practice, a Fertility Coaching Certification, and Summits That Build a List

Michelle Oravitz was working in architecture when her own fertility health journey sent her down a different path. Today she's a fertility acupuncturist running a hybrid in-person and online practice at The Wholesome Lotus Fertility, teaching practitioners through her Fertility Coaching Certification, and growing her email list with online summits — one of which brought in 1,400+ new subscribers who open her emails at around 50%. In this episode, Michelle walks through the career pivot, where the line sits between clinical care and online coaching, why she built a certification for other practitioners, and how summits became her main list-growth channel alongside the content she already posts. She also shares how she hires and keeps virtual assistants, and what keeps her creative instead of depleted. If you're an acupuncturist, PT, yoga teacher, massage therapist, or health coach looking to grow an email list that doesn't depend on the algorithm, this one is for you. In this episode, you'll learn: 🌱 How Michelle went from architecture to acupuncture after her own fertility health journey 🌱 What separates clinical practice from online fertility coaching — including the legal lines she navigates with clients outside her licensed state 🌱 Why she built a Fertility Coaching Certification instead of only seeing patients 🌱 How one online summit brought in 1,400+ new email subscribers 🌱 Her formula for running a summit, from her course The High Impact Summit Formula 🌱 How she finds, trains, and keeps virtual assistants who stay 🌱 The tools running her business: Notion, Asana, Planoly, and Google Drive 🌱 Why feeding her soul outside of work is what keeps the business creative Questions this episode answers: Can an acupuncturist coach clients who live in another state? Clinical treatment is licensed and state-bound, while coaching is education and support. Michelle explains how she keeps the two separate in her own practice. How can a wellness practitioner grow an email list without going viral? By hosting or speaking at an online summit. Michelle brought in more than 1,400 new subscribers this way, because summit attendees opt in specifically for the topic she teaches rather than landing on her list by accident. Why do summit subscribers open emails at a higher rate? Michelle sees roughly a 50% open rate from her summit list. People who register for a summit have already told you exactly what problem they're trying to solve, so the emails that follow match what they came for. About Michelle Oravitz: Michelle Oravitz is a licensed acupuncturist, fertility coach, podcast host, and founder of The Wholesome Lotus Fertility. She teaches practitioners through her Fertility Coaching Certification and her course, The High Impact Summit Formula. Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/thewholesomelotusfertility/ Website → https://www.michelleoravitz.com/ Want to build your own income stream that doesn't depend on your body showing up every day? I'm teaching a free webinar, Replace Your In-Person Clinic Salary Online, on October 7th at 10:30 AM PST. Register → https://100k-blueprint.pages.ontraport.net/work-from-home Follow me on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/wellunbound/ Ready to work with me? Book a consultation call → https://wellunbound.com

September 8, 202630 min

361. The Membership That Filled Her Clinic: How Laura Terry Grew Revenue 50%

Laura Terry is a physical therapist and yoga teacher with a full in-person schedule. For years, a schedule that full was also the ceiling — if she wasn't in the treatment room with someone, nothing came in. Then she noticed the thing her midlife clients kept asking for and couldn't find anywhere: strength training that's actually safe and informed for women moving through perimenopause, menopause, and the years after, instead of another round of "just be careful." She built it as an online membership, blew past her signup goal in under 10 days, and grew her overall revenue by 50% — with her brick-and-mortar practice still open and running. The part she didn't see coming: the online program started feeding the in-person practice. Her clinic calendar is now booked weeks out. In this episode, Laura shares how she: Found the gap her midlife female clients needed filled, and why her dual PT and yoga background was the exact thing they couldn't get anywhere else Built and launched the membership, and hit her signup goal in under 10 days Grew overall revenue 50% without abandoning the practice she'd already built Turned the online program into a referral engine for her clinic schedule Got through the cringe of showing up on Instagram, the tech, and the perfectionism that stalls most first-time online practitioners If you've been putting off building something that pays you when you're not in the room, Laura's story is proof it's worth the leap. Connect with Laura Instagram: @yogaandpt Website: yogaandpt.com Want to build your own income stream that doesn’t depend on your body showing up every day? I am teaching a free webinar, Replace Your In-Person Clinic Salary Online, on October 7th at 10:30 AM PST. Register here: https://100k-blueprint.pages.ontraport.net/work-from-home Follow me on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/wellunbound/ Ready to work with me? Book a consultation call on my website! → https://wellunbound.com

September 1, 202633 min

360. How Wellness Practitioners Build an Email List That Pays Them on the Days They Can't Work

The exact system to move followers off Instagram and onto an email list that earns when your hands can't — lead magnet, first email, and AI build. One tweaked shoulder, a broken wrist, or a kid home with a fever and your income for that week is gone. That's not a scheduling problem, it's what happens when every dollar you earn requires your body to physically be in the room. In this episode, Alison McLean breaks down how licensed wellness practitioners — physical therapists, yoga teachers, massage therapists, acupuncturists, chiropractors, and health coaches — build an email list that keeps earning on the days they can't teach or treat. Instagram followers belong to Instagram. An email list is an asset you own, you can sell to, and nobody can throttle. You'll get the full build: how to pick one lead magnet and stop rewriting it, the single email that gets the system running, how to invite people onto your list in a class or a community talk without it feeling like a pitch, and the Claude and ChatGPT workflow that takes the whole funnel from blank page to live in under two hours. What we cover Why shiny object syndrome keeps your lead magnet stuck in draft, and the one AI prompt that ends the loop The only email you need to write to get started (you do not need a 12-email sequence) How to sell without selling in classes, community talks, and DMs The exact Claude + ChatGPT workflow to build your funnel in under two hours Why the messy middle between posting content and pitching an offer is where the money actually lives Who this episode is for Licensed practitioners who are booked, respected, and completely dependent on being physically present to earn. If you have an Instagram following but no email list, or an email list you have never once sold to, start here. Frequently asked questions How do wellness practitioners make money without seeing clients in person? By building an email list and selling a digital offer to it. Instagram content builds awareness, but an email list is a direct channel you own, which means you can make an offer on a day you're not treating anyone and still generate revenue. What should a physical therapist or massage therapist use as a lead magnet? One specific thing your existing clients already ask you for. Not a comprehensive guide to your whole modality — a single problem your ideal client is actively searching for a fix to right now. Do I need a big email list to make money from it? No. A small list of people who already trust your clinical expertise converts far better than a large cold one. Practitioners regularly make their first online sale from a list under 200 people. How do I get Instagram followers onto my email list? Give them a reason to leave the platform: a lead magnet that solves a real problem, mentioned in your content, your bio, your classes, and your DMs. Followers are rented from the algorithm; email subscribers are yours. How long does it take to build an email funnel? Under two hours using AI tools like Claude or ChatGPT — lead magnet, opt-in page copy, and the first email. The delay is almost never the building. It's deciding what to build. Join me LIVE in the Replace Your In Person Income Free Webinar: https://100k-blueprint.pages.ontraport.net/work-from-home Follow me on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/wellunbound/ Ready to work with me? Book a consultation call on my website! → https://wellunbound.com

August 25, 202631 min

359. How to Fill a Workshop or Webinar When You Don't Have an Audience Yet — for Physical Therapists, Yoga Teachers & Massage Therapists

If you're a licensed wellness practitioner — a physical therapist, chiropractor, acupuncturist, yoga teacher, or massage therapist — trying to build online income without adding more sessions to your week, a workshop or webinar is one of the fastest ways to get warm leads in front of you. But most practitioners pick a date first and figure out the rest later, and that's why the workshop fills with eleven people who already know them and buys nothing at the end. Alison McLean, DPT, is a physical therapist and yoga therapist who built her own six-figure online practice and now mentors licensed practitioners doing the same. In this episode she walks through the three questions to answer before you announce anything. Here are the three questions, and why the order matters: Do you have an audience, or do you need to borrow one? Most practitioners have neither the list size nor the reach to fill a room on their own yet. That isn't a problem — it just means the plan is a borrowed-audience plan, and a borrowed-audience plan looks completely different from a "post it to my stories" plan. What are you offering after the workshop? This is where the money is. If you don't know the answer before you build the slides, the workshop becomes a free class you taught for exposure. Decide the offer first, then build backward from it. Are you building a one-time event, or a repeatable system? A one-time event pays you once. Inside the 100K Online program there's a lesson called Turn One Workshop into a Client Magnet — the whole point is that the same workshop keeps producing leads long after the live date. That's program work, but the decision you make here is what determines whether you rebuild from scratch every single time. Alison teaches the full workshop build inside 6-Figure Lead Generating Workshops That Convert — workshop topic, workshop framework, and how much to actually give away in the value portion. This episode covers the WHAT and the WHY. You don't need a huge audience to make workshops work. You need to answer these three questions before you pick a date. FAQ : Do I need a big email list to run a successful webinar? No. You need either an audience or a borrowed one, and a plan for which. What should I sell after a free workshop? Decide the offer before you build the workshop, not after. How many people do I need to sign up for a workshop to make it worth it? Fewer than you think, if the offer at the end is priced for the outcome. Are workshops still worth it for physical therapists and yoga teachers in 2026? Yes — they remain one of the highest-converting lead sources for licensed practitioners. Suggested tags/keywords: workshops for wellness practitioners, webinar for physical therapists, online business coach for licensed practitioners, how to fill a workshop, lead generating workshops, yoga teacher online income, massage therapist online business Follow me on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/wellunbound/ Ready to work with me? Book a consultation call on my website! → https://wellunbound.com Build your Online Offer in 15 Minutes with the Online Offer Builder for $15: https://path-to-profit.pages.ontraport.net/Online-offer-builder

August 18, 202630 min

358. Why You're Wiped Out After Every Session

You're seeing fewer clients than you were two years ago and you're more tired than you've ever been. That's the part that doesn't add up, and it's why you keep reaching for the wrong explanation — you need better boundaries, you need to sleep more, you need a lighter week. Here's what's actually going on. Somewhere after you raised your rate, the sessions got heavier. You started handing her three exercises she never asked for, plus a breathing practice, plus a sleep protocol, plus a follow-up email with two PDFs attached, because the higher number felt like it needed proof. None of that shows up on your schedule, and all of it comes out of you. It doesn't work for her either. She walked out with eleven things to do and managed two of them, so at the next session you explained more, which made that session run longer, which is how a 60-minute appointment quietly became a 90-minute one you're still getting paid 60 for. Then your body does the math before your brain does. That's the real reason you hesitate when someone asks if you have room for a new client — not because you don't want the income, but because your nervous system already knows what one more client actually costs you. So in this episode I walk you through the audit. Pick one client, pick one session, and write down every single thing you did for her, including the prep the night before and the text you answered at 9pm. Most practitioners find the leak in under ten minutes, and it's almost never where they expected it to be. You didn't get certified, trained, and experienced just to burn out proving your worth. It's time to charge like you already know it. In this episode: Why firehosing a client with information lowers her results and your rebooking rate What your nervous system is actually doing when it makes you hesitate to take on a new client The 3-step audit that finds where your time and energy are leaking out unpaid How one client went from scraping by session to session to consistent $12K+ months, working the same hours she was already working What to give a client instead of "more," so she actually implements and gets the result she came for Questions this episode answers : Why am I so drained after every session when I'm not seeing many clients? Because the unpaid work has grown around each session — the prep, the extra instruction, the follow-up messages — so your real hours per client are far higher than what's on your calendar. Why do I feel like I have to give clients more after raising my rates? A higher price triggers the urge to justify it, and the fastest-feeling justification is volume: more information, more homework, more access. Does giving clients more actually improve their results? No. Implementation drops as the number of instructions goes up. Fewer, clearer directives get followed; a long list gets abandoned. How do I find where my time is going in my practice? Audit one client and one session end to end, writing down every task you performed including the unpaid ones outside the session, then compare that total against what you were paid for it. Links to past episodes: 201. Perfect Price Formula (Feb 8, 2024, 45 min) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/201-perfect-price-formula/id1477774282?i=1000624496621 283. The 5 Step Wellness Pricing Formula: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/well-beyond-practice-online-business-for-health-wellness/id1477774282?i=1000698704920 Follow me on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/wellunbound/ Ready to work with me? Book a consultation call on my website! → https://wellunbound.com Build your online offer in just 15 minutes. Know who it's for, what the charge, what the program promise is and so much more. It's $15 to help you build an online program to help you bring in thousands. Get immediate access here: https://path-to-profit.pages.ontraport.net/Online-offer-builder