Why Amy Porterfield is no longer selling Digital Course Academy (Tarzan’s Hot Take)

Why Amy Porterfield is no longer selling Digital Course Academy (Tarzan’s Hot Take)

Last year I was so jealous of Chenell Basilio. 

It seemed like she was speaking at every internet marketing event I’d ever spoken at, plus a bunch of new stages I dreamed of walking on. It was all “Chenell, Chenell, Chenell!” Everyone wanted Chenell. In my imagination these invitations were dropping in her lap effortlessly. 

That was me in 2019, when I was the “it girl” of email in my purple sparkle pants, walking out on stage to All I Do Is Win by DJ Khaled and actually believing it. 

Back then I worried a lot that my success might be transient. Was it a fluke? Would it last? Was it possible that my business, the one that sprouted from seed to flower so quickly, could go away one day?

The answer, of course, is yes. 

Of course it was temporary. That’s business. Everything has a lifecycle. Like that hit song you can’t stop listening to one day, and completely forget about until you hear it on a retro-rewind playlist three years later. 

Hit songs have a lifecycle, just as big ideas come and go. Remember The 4-Hour Workweek? Ridiculous! Irrelevance is not only normal, it’s inevitable. (Unless you’re Celine Dion. Celine is forever.)

Digital programs have a lifecycle too. I’ve read many hot takes on Amy Porterfield’s decision to sunset Digital Course Academy, all conveniently interpreted in order to make whatever that person is selling seem more relevant than ever. This is my hot take, and I promise, it won’t end in a sales pitch, tho I can’t promise it won’t turn into a motivational speech. 

Everything ends. 

Things that are popular stop being popular. (Again, unless you’re Celine.) Ads that used to work stop working. The tide turns against people whose ideas we once found interesting but now can’t imagine endorsing. Looking at you, Tim Ferriss

People change and we should let them. 

Maybe Amy is sick of talking about the same thing over and over again. Maybe she wants a business model that affords her more time. Maybe she’d prefer a different type of client. Maybe the math on her Meta ads isn’t working out the way it needs to in order for her business to work. Maybe a lot of things. 

Stop trying to make it mean that you won’t be successful with whatever you’re trying to build. 

That is a disempowering thought loop. Stop it. Half of success is just believing it’s possible, and not forgetting when things get hard. Those of us who sell courses and coaching programs also have to hold that belief for everybody else — it’s fckn exhausting sometimes! Amy must be tired too. Maybe she just wants a break. 

I’m serious. 

Stop making it mean something. 

I’m glad no one told me that one day I would no longer be new and shiny and the spotlight would turn to someone else, and that the things I was doing that were profitable would someday stop being profitable. If someone had told me that, I would’ve missed my chance to learn how to trust myself. To see that, yes, things will stop working and then you’ll go build something else. And you can do that because you’re Tarzan and you’re smart. 

So are you! 

If you haven’t had your moment in the sun yet, and you’re still worried about whether or not there’s room for you in a crowded market, remember that people, products and businesses have a lifecycle. As Celine would say, that’s the way it is.* (You really need to listen to the audio version of this email.) We are all just waiting for the new shiny thing to pull our attention somewhere else or to someone new. Maybe that someone is you. Maybe it’s your turn next.

That’s my hot take on Amy P. leaving the courses market. Feel free to hit “reply” and share yours.

~ Tarzan

Tarzan Kalryzian [she/they]
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* “So don’t surrender, ‘cuz you can wiiiiin….”