How Abagail Pumphrey built a 7-figure business with 30,000+ students on Teachable

Abagail Pumphrey didn’t plan to build one of the most durable creator businesses on the internet. After a layoff in March 2015, she gave herself 90 days to replace her income. It took just 30 days. 

“I made my first 100,000 in 8 months and then I doubled it 4 months later.” -Abagail Pumphrey, Founder & CEO of Boss Project

A year later, a five-car collision and a traumatic brain injury forced hard choices. Client work no longer fit a life with unpredictable energy. She pivoted to products that could sell while she recovered.

That shift became Boss Project’s edge. She went all-in on Teachable, built a deep catalog of courses and digital products, and bundled her best work into a membership that now drives roughly half of revenue.

“Teachable is the easiest, most streamlined online course platform out there.” -Abagail Pumphrey, Founder & CEO of Boss Project

Abagail’s Teachable journey at a glance

The turning point

January 2016, she stopped taking clients to build the education side. In November 2016, the accident and TBI diagnosis confirmed the move away from services. 

She needed a business that was less about her personal bandwidth and more about systems, assets, and delivery that keep working when life is messy.

The early wins were small. A $500 co-launch here, a $2,000 webinar there. 

The first offer that truly clicked was Trello for Business, priced at $29. It cleared $8,000 in the first month and kept selling. 

Now, that very same course has crossed 10,000+ student enrollments and roughly $288,000 in sales. That one product taught a lesson that still guides Abagail’s approach. Small, installable wins beat sprawling curricula. Buyers want an outcome they can use today.

Why Abagail chose Teachable

Before Teachable, Abagail sold behind passworded pages and a brittle paywall that was easy to bypass. Checkout anxiety was real. 

She moved to Teachable for secure logins, clean checkout, access controls when refunds or payments fail, and simple ways to increase average order value without bolt-ons.

“You can go from idea to selling the same day.” -Abagail Pumphrey, Founder & CEO of Boss Project

She stayed because it kept working while her team focused on offers and customer success.

“It was one of the few systems that did not break during launches. Back then the fear was your checkout going down in the middle of a live push.” -Abagail Pumphrey, Founder & CEO of Boss Project

Related: Honest Teachable Review - Why I’m Loyal After 8 Years

Abagail’s secret sauce to success on Teachable

Abagail’s success did not come from complex funnels or a massive ad budget. It came from a handful of repeatable moves: ship one small product that solves a narrow problem, give buyers a path into an all-access membership, keep the tech simple so you can publish more, and let owned media do the heavy lifting over time. 

When paid traffic gets expensive, she pauses. When life gets complicated, the business still runs because the systems are simple and the offers are clear.

Strategy 1: Launch an installable product under $100

Abagail’s breakout was a $29 system that delivers a same-day result. The promise is specific, the setup is fast, and the win is visible. That first month’s $8,000 did more than cover costs. It proved a pattern that Abagail would reuse across the catalog.

New buyers get a clear outcome in hours, then feel ready for deeper work.

“Smaller, faster wins beat 200 hours of content every time.” — Abagail Pumphrey, Founder & CEO of Boss Project

Take action

• Pick one outcome your buyer can achieve in under an hour
• Ship a sub-$100 product with one focused page and a five-email welcome
• Add a short walkthrough and a checklist so the win happens today

Strategy 2: Compile your best products into a membership

Abagail’s Co-op membership bundles top courses, templates, and tools into one all-access subscription.

That single packaging decision stopped the month-to-month reset. Members get a home base. The team gets a clear rhythm to add value on schedule. 

When members asked for more depth, Abagail overhauled scope and moved many best-selling courses inside the Co-op. Join value rose. Retention improved. Revenue became more predictable. 

Today the membership carries a major share of company revenue, while sponsorships, courses, and affiliates round out the rest.

“We handle churn by staying close to what members ask for. We poll, we survey, and we ship.” -Abagail Pumphrey, Founder & CEO of Boss Project

Take action

• Audit your three most requested assets and put them behind one membership
• Announce one meaningful addition every month with a short demo or mini lesson
• Track join rate, 90-day retention, and refund rate before and after scope changes

Strategy 3: Make your checkout page and process work in your favor

Abagail uses Teachable to handle the parts of the sale most creators push to add-ons. The goal is simple. Lift average order value and reduce failure points. 

Every checkout includes a tightly matched order bump. Order bumps in Abagail’s business have ranged from $11 to $77 and can attach at strong rates when the fit is right. 

A one-click upsell sits on the thank-you page so buyers can add a related resource without re-entering payment details. 

Teachable’s teachable:pay unlocks Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and Link out of the box, which helps on mobile. 

Payment plans and subscriptions remove friction for buyers who need flexibility. 

BackOffice takes care of collaborator and affiliate payouts and unlocks Buy Now, Pay Later when it fits the offer. 

Automated tax handling covers sales tax and VAT so the team does not need extra tools to stay compliant. The net result is a simpler stack, calmer launches, and more revenue per order.

“Most tweaks move numbers by one percent. A clean checkout and more traffic move everything.” -Abagail Pumphrey, Founder & CEO of Boss Project

Take action

• Add an order bump to every checkout, priced at half the main offer or less
• Place a one-click upsell on the thank-you page with a 60-second explainer
• Turn on abandoned cart and review recovered revenue after each campaign
• Use payment plans on mid-ticket offers so more buyers can start today

Strategy 4: Let owned media be the heartbeat of your funnel

The Strategy Hour podcast is the core of Boss Project’s marketing. 

Millions of downloads and a steady listener base give every launch a head start. Episodes teach ideas, share results, and send warm traffic to sales pages. 

Abagail pairs episodes with simple lead magnets and pulls the best clips into course lessons so students hear and then apply. The loop works even when ads are off. Trust builds in public, then converts inside Teachable.

“We publish at a steady clip. The podcast builds trust while the funnel does the work.” -Abagail Pumphrey, Founder & CEO of Boss Project

Take action

• Pick one channel Abagail can show up on weekly and block time for it
• Attach a downloadable from a top episode and deliver it through the Teachable school
• Nurture new subscribers with seven short emails that teach one result and point to a clear offer

Strategy 5: Press pause on paid ads when CAC climbs

When acquisition costs rose, Abagail turned off Facebook and Instagram ads for the Co-op. Email, partner placements, and the podcast kept demand steady. 

When Abagail re-entered paid, budgets were capped, creatives taught a small win inside the ad, and every test had written targets for CPL and CPA. Paid is now a lever, not a lifeline. The business holds steady even when platforms change.

“We do not need to spend just to spend. We spend when the numbers make sense.” -Abagail Pumphrey, Founder & CEO of Boss Project

Take action

• If CPMs spike, pause for two weeks and fix your first-impression assets
• Restart with capped daily spend and a teaching-first creative concept
• Hold each test to a target CPL and CPA and turn off what misses

Expert corner: How Abagail Pumphrey thinks about education

Abagail measures everything against one simple promise: fast, visible wins for real people with real constraints. The product can be small if the outcome lands big.

“Most creators overbuild. The tech simply needs to work so you can focus on serving your clients and customers.” -Abagail Pumphrey, Founder & CEO of Boss Project

Abagail is vocal about choosing reach over fiddly optimizations. Her stance is practical, not theoretical. Platform stability matters to Abagail because launch weeks are fragile. She has tested alternatives, taken the calls, and still stayed put. Abagail’s bias is toward tools that protect the student experience and reduce creator anxiety.

“I craved a place that would securely store my course and give students one login to access everything.” -Abagail Pumphrey

Under all of this is Abagail’s operating principle: keep the stack simple, keep promises small and clear, and keep shipping. The wins compound for students, and the revenue compounds for the business.

Looking ahead

Abagail plans to keep The Co-op at the center of Boss Project. 

The membership will continue to bundle the most requested courses with fresh templates and tools on a predictable cadence. Abagail will keep publishing The Strategy Hour to grow owned reach and will bring listeners into the school with practical lead magnets tied to each launch. 

On the sales side, Abagail will keep checkout simple and high converting with native bumps, upsells, and flexible payments, and will only re-test paid ads when acquisition costs line up with clear CPL and CPA targets. Most importantly, Abagail will keep shipping useful assets that help students get fast, visible wins. 

The plan is steady and specific. More small outcomes that stack into lasting results, all delivered through a Teachable school that stays reliable while the team focuses on students.

What to do next

Ready to get results like Abagail Pumphrey? Start small, ship fast, and keep your stack simple. You do not need a giant funnel to begin. You need one installable product, a clean checkout, and a weekly publishing habit. If you want to see how that looks in practice, follow Abagail’s work at Boss Project and listen to The Strategy Hour for real examples you can copy. Then put your first offer inside Teachable so the sale, the delivery, and the student experience live in one place.

Try Teachable yourself: ready to build your first offer and sell it the same day? Start your 7-day free trial and see how teachable:pay, order bumps, one-click upsells, and built-in reporting help you earn while you keep creating.