🪄 Miss Excel: How Kat Norton Made Spreadsheets Go Viral

PLUS: Lipsync AI Models

Author

Startup Spells 🪄
August 25, 2024

Hey,

The Spells Master is back!

Welcome to the 141st issue.

Today's topics:

  1. Miss Excel: How Kat Norton Made Spreadsheets Go Viral

  2. A tool to Lipsync AI Models

  3. One recommended video on Building An AI Chat App With Cursor Using Natural Language

Miss Excel: How Kat Norton Made Spreadsheets Go Viral

Miss Excel, aka Kat Norton, has made over $5m-$10m in total earnings from her courses. In April 2021, she had her first 6-figure month. And just 6 months later, she made over $100k in a day.

She teaches the good ol' Excel in a fun way while dancing to popular TikTok songs.

Her following is massive on various social media platforms:

1. The Birth of Miss Excel

Kat Norton started her TikTok account on June 7th 2020. Her first video is where she dances to Drake's "Toosie Slide" to teach Excel's left and right functions.

Miss Excel Toosie Slide Song

Her creative approach didn't stop there:

  • "Drop It Like It's Hot" explained dropdown menus

  • Doja Cat's "Best Friends" illustrated why Index + Match are BFFs

  • Yoga poses decoded Pivot Tables

  • A ski jacket demonstration for freezing panes

She blends fun with function.

Miss Excel - Fun x Function

Norton was hesitant before her 1st video but her hesitation vanished as her videos gained traction:

  • 100,000 views by her 4th video

  • 3.6 million views and 100,000 followers within three weeks

Her 6th video caught the eye of an IT company CEO, leading to her first business opportunity to create G-Suite training videos.

By January 2021, Norton's course income surpassed her day job salary. On February 1st, 2021, she bid farewell to her corporate career.

Amid TikTok ban rumors, Norton expanded to Instagram when Instagram Reels were first coming out.

Initially, only 2,000 TikTok followers migrated to her Instagram but soon a viral Instagram Reel brought her 50,000 new followers.

Her video on "The Assignment" hit 6.7 million views across platforms and resulted in 200,000 new Instagram followers in 10 days.

2. Power Of Positive Vibes in Video

She believes that social media content is straight-up energy transmissions.

Miss Excel Energy Transmissions

Miss Excel Quote

Norton's philosophy is simple yet profound:

  • Social media content is a form of energy transmission

  • Videos can either uplift or deflate viewers

Norton's strategy combines education with positivity:

  • Create informative content

  • Ensure viewers are smiling while learning

  • Raise personal energy to positively impact the audience

She knows if she has to educate, she has to entertain.

"Education is a little bit against human nature. If you look at how people use their phone, the majority of people are using their phone to communicate and entertain (play games, using social media, or messaging)."

~ Alex Zhu, Co-Founder of Musically (now TikTok)

3. Packaging

Norton's unique approach:

  • Combines Excel's "boring" reputation with enthusiasm and dance moves

  • Uses creativity to capture attention (e.g., Excel screen above her head)

Norton leverages the "polarity principle" by mixing Excel and dancing.

"When people see things being combined like excel and dancing that don't traditionally go together... that creates conversation"

~ Kat Norton

"When you combine things you are not supposed to combine, people get interested."

Norton brings Excel to life by:

  • Creating stories and playing multiple roles (boss, co-worker, etc.)

  • Using outfit changes and transitions

"I'll play characters so I'll be the boss I'll be the co-worker then I'm you and I like flip I switch outfits I do transitions"

~ Kat Norton

4. Courses and Webinars

Today, Miss Excel offers:

  • Microsoft Office suite courses

  • Google Sheets tutorials

  • Excel for kids

Miss Excel All Courses

With 22,000 students and course prices ranging from $297 to $1,197, plus corporate training gigs, Miss Excel has built a thriving business.

When Morning Brew showed interest in featuring her, Norton's business coach advised: "If you're going to be in Morning Brew, have something to sell."

Her Sales Funnel looks like:

  1. Top Of Funnel (TOF): Viral content on social media

  2. Middle Of Funnel (MOF): "High-energy Excel parties" (webinars)

  3. Bottom Of Funnel: Course sales and corporate training

Her webinar focus drives upto 7,000 live attendees and 3-4,000 typical live audience.

Her first 6-figure day was on October 2021.

Her pricing strategy was to bundling courses to increase price point and customer lifetime value (LTV)

She created 9 courses in 2 months.

Her course creation process is intense:

  1. Mapping: 2 days

  2. Filming: 2 days (12 hours of content)

  3. Editing: 3 days

Norton's efficiency mantra: "If it's between me and 40 hours, I can make those 40 hours last three months or one week. Which one am I gonna pick?"

"My purpose is to provide as much value to people as possible. That's why I host these Excel training sessions and offer a deal on my products at the end of the webinar."

~ Miss Excel

5. Expansion Strategy

Kat Norton isn't stopping at Excel. She's branching into PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook.

Her goal is mastery of the entire Microsoft Office suite.

Norton's collaboration with Microsoft gives her an edge:

  • Early access to new features

  • Creates content on new functions as soon as they're released

Norton's approach to advertising is unconventional:

  • She has hired a performance marketing agency

  • Her strategy: "I don't sell my course. I just put my most viral video and I put ad spend behind it."

This tactic leverages her existing viral content, amplifying reach without hard-selling courses.

6. Corporate Clients

Major companies are taking notice:

  • BCG purchased 1,500 course seats

  • Target inquired about training for 25,000 employees

Her strategy for corporate clients is to offer custom solutions and a premium pricing for tailored content.

For corporate clients like Target, she charges 5 million dollars.

7. Excel's Massive TAM (Total Addressable Market)

Excel courses consistently top the charts:

  • Best-sellers on Teachable and Udemy

  • One Teachable creator crossed $20 million in earnings (Source: Founder of Teachable Ankur Nagpal)

Excel stands out because it has assionate following. Its ersatile for model building. And its freeform nature allows creativity while being used globally by businesses.

Norton's ambitious goals are to make $100 million/year in sales. Her conversative estimates are at $25 million/year for multiple years.

She works only 15-hour work weeks (except when creating courses) and has 1 overseas VA for $500/month.

Her stack includes:

  • Her iPhone

  • Thinkific to list her courses

  • Stripe for payment processing

  • WeVideo for video editing

Miss Excel just might become a billionaire creating Excel courses.

A tool to Lipsync AI Models

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Rabbit Holes

  1. Distribution - A beautiful piece on distribution. Covers advanced level stuff in <500 words.

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Until next time,

Your Spells Master!

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