How My Tiny Summit Turned Into 6-Figures in Revenue
It's been a while since the last time I shared my summit results on the podcast, but today I'm breaking my own rule and sharing numbers from my last virtual summit! I stopped sharing our summit results on the podcast a few years ago, because the pressure of knowing I'd have to debrief everything publicly was creating so much anxiety leading up to events. But I want to share this story with you because I think it could change how you think about virtual summits - especially if you have a smaller audience.
If you've been waiting to host a summit until your email list is bigger, I need you to hear this: The success of your summit does not depend on huge registration numbers. When your strategies are solid, when your positioning is right, and when you know how to monetize your event, you don't need tens of thousands of attendees to make incredible things happen.
Listen to the episode
Full Transparency...
Before I dive into the strategy behind these results, I want to be completely transparent with you about a few things.
First, I have an awesome team who does a lot of the work to bring summits to life for me. I'm a homeschool mom who works part-time, and I prioritize supporting our clients when I am working. My summits need to be pretty low-lift for me. My team takes the system we have in our programs and brings it to life with my vision, ideas, and feedback.
Second, this wasn't my first rodeo. I created the full step-by-step summit hosting system, and I've been called the "queen of summits" and the "queen of monetizing summits." My first summit ever brought in $16,000, so it's taken time and experience to get here. I've been in business since 2015, I have multiple offers, and our offers are solid - all of that played a part in this launch.
The good news? This is a strategy I teach in the Launch with a Summit Accelerator, so you can get host a profitable summit without all the guesswork and starting from scratch.
The Summit Details
In August of 2025 we hosted our Membership Momentum summit, and it was our second time running this event, which was only relevant to about 1,500-2,000 people on our email list.
Let that sink in for a second.
I hosted an event that was only relevant for a small portion of my existing audience, and my goal was 2,000 registrations. I knew I could rely on speakers to promote, but I also kept realistic expectations based on how B2B summits are performing right now.
We ended up with 1,600 registrations. While I would have liked more, I knew we'd still see good numbers because of the strategies we have baked in and how targeted this event was for the people we can help the most.
With 1,600 leads in a typical summit strategy, you'd expect about $8,000-$16,000 in revenue. That's not too shabby if you're in the earlier stages of business. But we're all about maximizing results and impact around here, and at this stage in my business, I need my summits to bring in more revenue than that.
When all was said and done, that summit with just 1,600 people turned into $102,311 in revenue generated during the event. Some of that is still coming in through payment plans, but that's what the summit itself generated.
What This Means for You
Here's what I want you to take away from this:
The success of your summit does not depend on huge registration numbers.
When your strategies are solid, when your positioning is right, and when you know how to monetize your summit, you don't need tens of thousands of attendees to make good things happen. Sure, I'd take those extra zeros if they came, but I'll also take the $100k+ we were able to bring in without needing tens of thousands of people registered.
This is especially good news if you have a smaller email list. I often hear people say they're going to wait to host a summit until they have a bigger email list. That is so backwards. A summit will GET you the email list. It does not rely on you having one.
And if you have a higher-ticket offer that converts, that puts even less pressure on the number of registrations you need to see significant revenue come in, because that offer can pull a lot of weight from the leads you do get.
If you've been doubting whether you're ready or have a big enough audience, let's put those fears aside. You can do big things with a small email list. We have interviews on this podcast of people who went from literally zero to 4,500 attendees, zero to 10,000 attendees.
Let's not let your fears and self-doubt dictate the big moves you take in your business. Let's let the potential good that could come be what decides what steps you're going to take.
The 3 Keys to Making This Happen
So what were the most important parts of getting these results? I'm not just throwing spaghetti at the wall here. Let me break down the three big things that made this happen:
1. Strategic Positioning
We were targeting our perfect-fit people. Everything about the event was crafted from the lens of: Who is our ideal client? Who is most likely to invest with us? Who can we get the best results for?
That's who we crafted this summit for. We asked ourselves, "How can we help them? What outcomes do they want on a short-term basis?"
Yes, that meant we turned a lot of people away with how things were positioned. But we clearly brought the right people in the door.
If you've been around for a while, you've heard me preach about summit positioning. This is not the first time and won't be the last. It's the single most important part of your event. Everything else can be perfect, but if the positioning is off, it's not going to work.
2. Perfect-Fit Offers Positioned Throughout
Along with the positioning of the event itself, we had the perfect-fit offers positioned throughout as well.
The all-access pass was designed to grab their attention. We weren't just selling access to replays or a bundle of totally random resources - we had a targeted and strategic package offered at a meaningful price point. Offering it for $25 wouldn't have done us any favors.
The entire summit was designed for people who are a perfect fit for our Launch with a Summit Accelerator® and Summit in a Box® programs. It was such a natural transition to offer these to them afterwards, and they wanted it. They didn't want me to just leave them hanging and wish them luck. They wanted support with that next step, which we positioned throughout the summit.
3. Our Proven Summit-to-Launch Strategy
We had a strategic plan for making that transition from summit to launch happen. We didn't just wing it. We didn't surprise them at the end of the summit with doors opening. We didn't pitch them constantly throughout the event.
Instead, we gently built awareness. We let them know the offer existed and that it was coming. When we opened the doors, they were ready for it.
Your Next Steps
All of these strategies are things we help people with every single day in the Launch with a Summit Accelerator. If you want to have a record-breaking launch of your course, membership, or group program - regardless of the size of your email list - just DM "accelerator" on Instagram, and we can talk about if it's a good fit for you. Or go ahead and apply at summitinabox.co/apply.
If you have a relatively small audience and want to see how a summit can work for you, I'm hosting a free training on exactly that on January 14th. If you have a small audience or even no audience at all, you know you have offers that work, and you want to use summits to grow quickly, this training is for you.
I hope you're now feeling inspired and excited by the possibilities, instead of held back by fear or self-doubt. Even with a small list, you have the potential to double, triple, or even 10x your list because of the nature of how summits work. Don't let a small email list be a limiting factor - in reality, you'll get relatively greater impact than those with huge email lists.
Resources
- Summits for Small Audiences Training - January 14, 2026
- Episode #233: A 4 Step Process for Positioning Your Summit for Success
- Episode #120: Create an All-Access Pass that Gets Virtual Summit Attendees Hitting 'Buy Now'
- Summit Host Hangout® Facebook group
- Launch with a Summit Accelerator®
- 6-Figure Summits Workshop Bundle
Pin it for later!
5-Minute Virtual Summit Roadmap
The 5-Minute Summit Roadmap leads you through the 7 essential questions that will guide the rest of your summit planning process and help you finally start making meaningful progress toward a profitable event.