Sometimes business ideas seem to bloom of their own accord. Pepi Valderrama’s business website is an example of one that evolved organically, in step with the philosophy she teaches.
Pepi is a life coach and author with an expansive world view and a holistic approach to empowering others. She demonstrates how unlocking one’s potential and overcoming limiting beliefs can impact not only one’s personal growth but their career goals as well.
That kind of self-acceptance, she teaches, is achieved through small, actionable steps.
The tools Pepi provides on her website, dePepi.com, are multidimensional: books, courses, services, and products. She also offers her users three membership tiers, managed by Paid Memberships Pro.
Leaning into Potential and Growth
Unlike many business websites that are developed with a business roadmap from inception, Pepi’s grew transformed from a personal site. Originally a blog to share her experiences whilst living in Japan, she realized the potential of monetizing her hobbies, and teaching others to do the same.
However, it took a while for her to figure out exactly how to transform her personal blog into the kind of teaching and e-commerce platform she envisioned.
I wanted to have my own subscription system and use something that would be easy to set up, easy to maintain, and easy to grow.
—Pepi Valderrama
What was clear to her, though, was that she wanted her site to work on a subscription model in order to sell courses. She also wanted to offer an annual membership to give members extended access to content. Finally, but just as importantly, she wanted an option with the least hassle and learning curve possible.
Luckily, the WordPress education theme she chose, Eduma, integrates with the LearnPress course building plugin. The LearnPress plugin has native integration with Paid Memberships Pro, offering an easy setup process while remaining highly scalable for future growth.
I found PMPro thanks to the WP template I use, Eduma… I wanted something that would allow me to create a slick educational site in my own terms.
—Pepi Valderrama
Beyond simple implementation and scalability, Pepi also credits PMPro with fulfilling her other priorities: the ability to set up subscriptions, offer coupons, and create a community.
Wellness Within Entrepreneurship Education
Pepi’s business courses address a range of topics from marketing strategies and side hustles to monetization and job hunting. She also offers courses in self-publishing, finding passive streams of income, using ChatGPT for writing or job hunting, and turning a blog into a community.
What may distinguish her from the average marketing instructor, however, is her focus on mental well-being. Transformative subject matters like work-life balance, motivation, abundance mind-set, and healthy relationships are part of Pepi’s holistic approach as she coaches followers into a successful life.
Being able to offer different membership levels gives her followers flexibility to learn and participate at their chosen pace, and select the courses that best serve them. Thanks to PMPro, implementing memberships, a priority for Pepi, was a breeze to set up.
Being able to offer subscriptions that allow access to everything with just a click––one payment, or several, depending on what the user chooses––that’s gold.
—Pepi Valderrama
Pepi currently offer three membership levels:
- Free: includes free newsletter posts and free Notion templates
- Annual: includes the free content above, plus additional paid newsletter posts and personal premium Notion templates
- Founding: includes all newsletter posts, all Notion courses for a year, and one year access to all courses
In addition to courses outlining a number of DIY tools for learners, Pepi also offers hands-on “do for you” services. Admitting that this “dual business” aspect of her business is her most significant challenge, she points to the importance of organization in keeping her workflow on point.
Organization is key. I spend a while each week making sure I have organized the week in the most efficient way.
—Pepi Valderrama
The Notion Toolset
With organization being a priority in her business, it is not surprising that central to many of Pepi’s courses is the Notion organization and tracking app. Offering a customizable workspace, Notion is a comprehensive tool for task management, workflow visualization, note-taking, standard operating procedure creation, collaboration, timelines, and kanban boards.
One dePepi course in particular underscores the flexibility and wide applicability of Notion app for aspiring entrepreneurs.”Transform Your Hobby into a Thriving Business – Notion Course” offers eight modules containing 38 lessons covering a rich variety of business and supportive topics. Among them are monetization, mission, values, goals, branding, and social media strategy, as well as emotional freedom techniques.
Bespoke Notion templates are also available for purchase on the dePepi website to take advantage of Notion’s capabilities. Pepi’s “Second Brain” templates, for example, help to track daily recurring tasks, yearly goals, to-do lists, expenses and trends, while keeping one’s core principles at the forefront. Also available are templates for social media scheduling, magazine creation, and resume writing with AI prompts.
Creativity
Organization helps simplify and manage the multiple demands of any growing business. By providing critical structure to a business, Pepi shares, it can allow for more creativity.
It can also support the three related key principles that guide Pepi’s business: simplicity, practicality, and flexibility.
“For creativity to thrive you need those three, “she says. “It takes time to have a nice platform and a good collection of content to offer to people. But if you do take that time and put all your effort into it, you can build something beautiful that will help a lot of people make their dreams come true.
