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What Alua Arthur Helps Thousands of Students Redefine Death

Mar 28, 2023

Alua's intrepid founder's trip began on a bus ride in Cuba. After being diagnosed with clinical depression and ending her legal career, Alua found herself sitting with a traveler who had terminal uterine cancer. She had no idea what was going to happen when the conversation was afoot between they would alter the course of her life forever.

"I I asked her lots of questions regarding deathkind of questions you would never have to ask someone you don't know, however she was so open to me. We discussed for hours what she was afraid of, the things she was afraid to lose, and the things she wishes she could have done differently during her time," Alua recalls.

"Coming off the conversation, I kept contemplating why I didn't engage with my partner in meaningful conversations about death in my 34 years of existence. The more I thought about it, the more I realized, 'I want to do something about this.'"

After returning after a trip to America, upon returning home to United States, Alua threw herself into finding ways of helping people through their end-of-life transition. Coming from a law background and a law degree, she was aware that she didn't want to go in the field of medicine or social work. While psychology was not exactly the career she was looking for, she decoded her desire to study a course that was focused on spirituality and death. Yet shortly into her degree the brother of her got terminally ill.

"I was able to support him throughout the final two months of his life. I was with him day in and day out, lying on the couch and resting on the floor, running errands, picking people up from the hospital taking medications and doing some the necessary research" she continues.

"I found myself feeling more and more frustrated because there wasn't somebody I could just call who would have these answers for us, or even someone who wasn't part of our network of support who could acknowledge and validate how difficult what we're experiencing was. In those moments, I decided that, if I didn't have the answer, I would have to create it."

This realization planted the seed for Going with Grace which is a death doula training and end-of-life planning organization that aims to redefine and improve the concept of death by using the individual life experiences as the basis.

Alua is now welcomed over 1,800 students into her 'End of Life Education program', and has gathered nearly 15,000 new subscribers to her newsletter and generated $2.5 million in sales. Here's how she accomplished it.

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She translated her personal story into the company's mission

From day one, Alua has been intentional regarding making it possible for Going With Grace to originate from a personal place. She believes that even though some people attempt to distinguish the personal and professional from each other, they're one and the same.

"How you appear on the inside will reflect on how you show up on the job. To me, this was always a personal mission that I set out to address what I faced during my death process. Going With Grace was born out of that place ."

Her personal experiences have allowed her to step into the shoes of her audience with a distinct wayshe knew all their needs before they even came across her offering.

"The end-of-life process is so isolated. The main goal was to make people feel isolated while going through the challenges. It's hard enough, even if you have the best doctors and the best support system -It's a crushing ."

She continues: "The mission of Going with Grace is helping people to answer the question "What can I do in order to feel at peace with my own self, in order that I live in the present and live my life with grace? Whatever someone's answers may be they can count on us to support themSometimes it's about healing relationships and sometimes, it's confronting their fears about dying. Sometimes, we're trying to figure out their ideals that they wish to live their lives by. We're focusing on that ."

She remained consistent in her organic, personalized messaging

When it came to translating her personalized messaging into a campaign for marketing, Alua stuck to her origins. Alua created her website with one goal in mind to provide a platform for others to talk about death and grief in an authentic way.

"When I realized this type of space was not available I decided to make it happen because I knew there was someone else looking for it. Perhaps it was one in a million, however, surely someone has had a similar experience to me." she says.

"As a result of my thinking process, my marketing happened really organically, and I think this is the reason why people reacted to the message so strongly."

But Alua recognized that her natural messaging could only go so much without coherence.

"When there is an igniting of something in someone's mind, it's worth something. The magnitude of the spark is not up to you , however it's up to you to ignite the fire. If you're constantly passionate and authentically discussing the same subject, eventually they'll come close to ."

  In the initial phase of her rollout, Alua also came to understand the significance of having an authentic personal brand. In the beginning, she was not aware that she had a image in the public eye, but by focusing on her personality it was possible to level up her credibility and credibility.

"One important element in branding and marketing is staying true to who you are. I'm not quiet, calm, human, yet people often assume that we must be quiet and avoid issues of the dying and death. Being unapologetic about my own self I drew attention to my friends and family. ."

At the beginning of her career, Alua started posting one-minute videos on social networks that focused on her own experiences and her mission statement as well as her online course that she was beginning to create. Before she knew it, Alua had pre-sold 57 subscriptions before she had even started building the course. In addition the list of her email subscribers, which was 400 strong began to grow exponentially.

"I honestly believed 10 people would register. In that moment, I realized I actually had the commitment of this ."

She outlined her course structure using a concrete method

After establishing her viewers, Alua started to wrap her thoughts around the challenging procedure of creating her first course online -- 'The Art of Dying'. As with many course designers, she formed a skeletal framework that she fleshed out modules by modules.

"It was really useful to consider the information blocks that my students would require at various times during the course. I would think that to myself: "Here's the base. This is the next step. If we're going here What do we require for us to achieve our goals What do we need to know?" I'd always be mindful of the overall purpose in mind. Then, cut the lessons into chunks that are bite-sized," she explains.

The framework was eventually developed in an actionable way -- Alua could divide the program into three fundamental segments. The first part lays the groundwork of what funeral doulas actually perform? What's the purpose of medicine? What are the indicators of dying? Why do we need to be aware of your own demise? The second section focuses on traditional funeral care, funeral home logistics, as well as funeral legacies and ceremonies. In the final section, it integrates all of these elements into practice.

  Alua has created a number of programs using this structure, all with completion rates of 76% and overall ratings of 4.9 stars. She believes none of this would be possible without .

" is the one thing that really helped me realize my idea. In those early days I looked around for an online course platform but none could be made accessible or simple enough. It's a shame that I'm an analog person -- I don't know how to alter the ringtone on my phone, but was not only straightforward, but extremely effective. It's how we got to where we are today." She says.

She integrated her real voice into her lessons

Alongside rolling out this effective learning structure, Alua has been intentional about allowing her personality to be reflected in her online courses.

"I tell a lot of stories about the clients that I've worked with, so that my students can understand the process in real time. I'm intentional about talking directly to the camera, and I refrain from keeping my persona in check," she says.

"I think my online courses are a stunning snapshot in time of my work as well as my identity as an individual. I published 'The Art Of Dying' in 2018, and in four years the course could be entirely different person from the one I was back then. So when I'm creating my programs, I stay away from committing myself to the way I'm feeling in this moment but also hold in the hope that the future will be ."

She prioritized community while diversifying her revenue streams

Alua has also placed great emphasis on celebrating community, both inside and outside of her structure of courses. Utilizing the strength studies groups she's found a way to increase her income streams.

"One one of the great things about our programs is that we have everything online. And there are also regularly scheduled group studies where students discuss the material through Zoom in real time. The students are able to think through their questions in the discussion, which not only keeps them engaged however, it also helps to build a stronger feeling of belonging. They become close to one others, and they develop relationships and ultimately, I've just been creating the space to allow them to do what they would naturally do in any other situation. ."

She continues: "I'm simply following the breadcrumbs where they already exist. One of my students was married not that long ago, and 7 students from their online class were present. For me, this is the true power of what we're doing ."

Apart from her online education, Alua has created various community-driven initiatives to support her business model.

"Another important source of income is the Death Doula Den -- it's a member-only community in which people gather to talk about death and dying. We also host distinct Zoom meetings where we speak about 'hot button issues' as well as provide assistance in this is how," she says.

"Ultimately We have communities for people who are looking for services, as well as communities for people who want to know how to offer services to other people."

She overcame the main hurdle course creators face

Looking at Go With Grace's achievements up to this point, Alua is very transparent about her struggles to conquer various hurdles during her journey as a creator and yet, these struggles have made her stronger on both the professional and personal level.

"The largest leap I've done was to press the 'Publish' button on my first course. I cried hysterically as I hit the button. My thoughts were"Oh my God how could I have done that? Who do I think I really am? Why would I do something like this ?'"

  In the present, a few years down the line, Alua has a few words of advice she would say to herself:  

"The most effective thing you could do is to silence that voice that says, 'It's impossible. 'You're not good enough. It's not your time to be worthy. You're not sure the way you're going.' Dismiss those thoughts and continue to push because someone in the world has what you can provide. Take the leap and be prepared that it's unlikely to be flawless and it's most likely to end up being extremely messy and embarrassing be able to look back at in a few years, but it's more effective than doing nothing . ."

Are you inspired by Alua's tale of creating a successful online-based course company? Are you ready to make the jump yourself? Register for the course and start today.