Free Course to Affiliate Funnel
Give a free course that builds reciprocity, then recommend the tool you use.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 88%
Dumas evaluates opportunities by asking how they scale and how he can leverage them after the initial grind. Seeing that his audience needed ClickFunnels, he built a free four-video course called Funnel on Fire teaching people to build a converting funnel. The free value builds reciprocity, and at the end he recommends ClickFunnels via his affiliate link. He made the course years ago and hasn't touched it since, yet it drives $10,000–$15,000 a month in affiliate checks and has generated over $1.4 million. Rotating calls to action at the end of every few episodes feed the evergreen funnel.
Origin
Recognizing his audience loved and needed ClickFunnels, Dumas packaged his own usage into a free evergreen training that funnels people to his affiliate link.
Core principles
- 01Ask of any opportunity: how does this scale and how can I leverage it?
- 02Giving genuine free value first builds reciprocity that makes recommendations convert.
- 03An evergreen course keeps earning long after the initial work is done.
- 04Recommend only tools you genuinely use so the endorsement is authentic.
How to run it
- 1
Ask how it scales
Before committing, ask how the opportunity could scale and how you could leverage it beyond the initial work.
- 2
Build a free value-first course
Create a short evergreen course (Dumas used four video tutorials) teaching a valuable skill tied to a tool your audience needs.
Pro tip Keep it genuinely useful on its own so people benefit even if they never buy.
- 3
Let reciprocity build, then recommend
After delivering the free training, recommend the tool you actually use and give your affiliate link.
Watch out Only recommend tools you truly use — the reciprocity and trust collapse if the endorsement is hollow.
- 4
Feed it evergreen traffic
Point steady traffic at the free course through rotating calls to action so it keeps converting without new work.
Pro tip Dumas rotates a CTA to the course every five or six episodes.
In the wild
Dumas built a free four-video course, Funnel on Fire, teaching converting funnels, ending with his ClickFunnels affiliate link, and drives listeners to it via rotating CTAs.
→ Over $1.4 million in affiliate revenue and $10,000–$15,000 monthly checks for years from a course he hasn't touched since building it.
Common mistakes
Leading with the ask instead of value
Pitching the affiliate product before delivering free value skips the reciprocity that makes people actually convert.
Promoting tools you don't use
Recommending software you don't genuinely use undermines authenticity and the trust the whole funnel depends on.
Is it for you?
Best for
Creators with an audience who can teach a skill tied to a tool they authentically use.
Not ideal for
People without an audience, or those willing to promote tools they don't actually use.
From the transcript
“I use clickfunnels so I recommend it here's my affiliate link and holla we've generated over $1.4 million in in Revenue just by promoting clickfunnels”
“I always ask the question number one like how does this scale how could I potentially leverage this”
From the episode
John Lee Dumas: Productivity Hacks to Work Smarter, Not Harder
John Lee Dumas