Grow an audience first: Myles used his Instagram account to share provoking relationship thoughts and built an audience of fans before he launched his coaching and online course business.
Go live: Consider including a live component in your course or coaching program. People crave this interaction and the connections it creates. The perceived extra value is huge and commands a higher price point.
Waitlists work: Before launching his online course, Myles used a waitlist to generate buzz. He provided free, valuable content for those who signed up. About 90 of the 2K who signed up for the waitlist converted into paying customers.
Realize change is OK: An accident left Myles bedridden for months, prompting him to rethink his life. He sold his business to his only employee for mid-six figures. Today, he works for Pillar, a platform for creators.

The Story of Myles Cohen

In 2016, Myles Cohen found himself in a bad breakup funk when a friend recommended journaling. Resistant at first, he tried it. He wrote constantly and eventually turned his writings into a memoir.

Through writing, Myles learned a lot about himself, his relationships, and the origins of his conditioning. He shared that content on Instagram under the name The Myles Scott. (He didn’t want to use his real name because he appeared on the TV show Married at First Sight Second Chances in 2016 and didn’t want to be harassed for that on Instagram.)

Over time, Myles discovered the market was hungry for content about a man sharing his vulnerability, self-awareness, and relationship insights. Though posted infrequently for the first two years, his audience grew rapidly.

His Instagram posts followed a similar theme – a visually bold statement to reframe the viewer’s thinking. The caption explained what was happening with their thinking and point of view. By the time someone finished reading the post, they should be able to shift from seeing their partner as the problem in the relationship to realizing they needed to be accountable for how they showed up in relationships.

By 2018, Myles’s audience had grown to 15K, and he got an offer to appear on the Good Morning LaLa Land podcast in Los Angeles. The trip would eventually lead him to leave his sales job and move to the city with only a part-time content business that wasn’t earning any revenue.

Going full time

Myles’ savings sustained him for the first 12 months, during which he posted daily on Instagram and branched out to Twitter as a sounding board. If a tweet did well, Myles would turn it into an Instagram post. The feedback from the audience helped shape the business.

“I would see comments like ‘My god, you’re speaking directly to me. How do you know me so well? And preach it loudly to the people in the back.’”

In November 2019, with his nest egg running out, Myles tested a high-ticket coaching program. He tapped a private Facebook group with some of his super fans and asked if they would participate.

The pilot went well. Myles created a landing page to sell the first coaching cohort with testimonials from the beta testers. The Gauntlet was born. The $999 program ran for eight weeks because that’s enough time for someone to form a new habit, and participants would think the length warranted the pricing.

He sold 20 spots.

“I went from fearing not being able to pay my rent to feeling invigorated with 20K in my pocket. And I also had 20 people who signed up and paid, so now I had to deliver,” he says.

The 20 people joined a Discord group and participated in weekly Zoom calls.

Thriving during the pandemic

A few months later, COVID-19 hit, and Myles left LA at his mother’s urging and moved to Costa Rica. He used the time to build his business.

“Everyone was lonely and starving for connection, and one of the things my group program offered was the concept of regulation. I built a safe space for people to come in and talk vulnerably,” Myles says.

Within six months, Myles had over 50 five-star reviews of his program on Google, and he increased the price from $999 to $2K.

The Gauntlet earned between $20K and $40K a month. Satisfied, Myles hadn’t considered adding services. But then, digital marketing expert Till Boadella sent an Instagram DM offering to help Myles create and launch a course using a waitlist method.

Reluctant at first, Myles agreed and used a book he had been working on as the syllabus and curriculum for the course. The Ultimate Self-Love and Inner Work Blueprint course was born. Students would receive a 100-page PDF and two calls a week for a month, followed by four weeks of support sessions and content.

To promote it, Myles opened up a waitlist. He sent them an email sequence of videos and other content to the 2K who signed up. “I wasn’t selling the course. I was selling the waitlist and free content. I told the audience, ‘You are going to get the most up-to-date content just by being on the waitlist.’”

By the July 2020 launch, 90 people on the waitlist had purchased the $600 course.

Myles recorded everything and turned it into a $99 on-demand course. The ultimate goal for the courses was to convert them into joining The Gauntlet coaching program.

Scaling the business

As he was running two cohort of The Gauntlet and the Blueprint course, Myles started a community. Members included his previous Gauntlet coaching clients who wanted to stay in contact with each other and continue they work they began during the program. They paid $33 a month.

Myles’ business revenue had grown to $60K to $100K a month. During this boom in business, a charismatic guy, Yats Palat, came through the coaching group. He chatted with Myles about how to improve the business, and Myles hired him on the spot. Yats helped keep Myles accountable and helped run the day-to-day business.

Eventually, Yats became the support coach for the Gauntlet program. He urged Myles to raise The Gaunlet pricing to $3K and hosted a second weekly coaching call for participants.

The unplanned exit

In 2021, Myles’s visa ran out in Costa Rica, and he moved to Atlanta. But an unfortunate accident changed everything.

Myles injured his back during a kickball game. He couldn’t get out of bed for four months, and his mental health took a hit.

“I was teaching people about their mental health and inner wellness, and I was struggling myself. I couldn’t do the things that made me happy, I couldn’t think about what to write or even what content to make,” Myles says.

Luckily, Yats stepped up to cover the business. Myles eventually felt sick of everything – his health, business, etc.- so he offered to sell the business to Yats. In May 2021, Yats assumed ownership of the business, including Myles’ original Instagram account. While the sale details are private, the price was in the mid-six figures.

What next?

Myles continued to struggle. He knew the sale was the right move, but he wondered what he was supposed to do. He tried his hand at selling supplements for gamers but quickly discovered his true passion was selling information and knowledge, not products. He wanted to help people and stay in the content creator world.

He started his own agency, Gaming Media Agency, which helped other agencies land band deals for their roster of influencers, creators, and gamers.

Through his agency, Myles connected with Pillar, a one-stop platform for creators. They wanted him to come on board full-time to launch their new VIP program. He started in January 2024. Though Gaming Media Agency still exists through inbound leads, Myles’ full attention is on Pillar.

Advice for Content Entrepreneurs

The absolute best way to succeed as a content entrepreneur is to know your audience better than they know themselves. Find out what they need and then help them address it. They will buy from you when you position yourself as the answer to their needs. They value your content and expertise. Ask thought-provoking questions to change their thinking. It establishes you as a thought leader to your audience.

Consider boosting your Instagram posts to get leads and increase your audience. Myles used this strategy often when building the business. He created a post for Instagram with a CTA to apply for his Gauntlet program. After a week, he would evaluate the metrics, and if the post did better relative to the average engagement, he would boost it to the right demographic. Doing this two to four times a month with a cost of $500-$1000 per boost generated a ton of new followers and leads. Myles notes he did not run a traditional ad. The boosted post asked people to apply for the program and to follow him on Instagram, not buy something.

Reply to all DMs and messages. This provides interaction and lets your audience know you care about them and want to help. It also provides the chance for an individualized conversation where you can steer the audience member to one of your products.

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