🎙️ Interview Transcript

Sara Burton (Host) & Jonathan “J. Cron” Cronstedt (President of Kajabi)

Introduction

Sara Burton:
J.Cron, welcome to the show. For listeners who might not know you, could you tell us who you are, what you do, and how you got there?

Jonathan Cronstedt:
Absolutely. My name is Jonathan Cronstedt, but most people call me J.Cron. I’m the President of Kajabi, where I co-lead the company alongside our CEO, Kenny Rueter.

At Kajabi, we help entrepreneurs, experts and influencers market, sell and deliver their knowledge online. That could be coaching, courses, consulting… anything that allows you to turn what you know into income. Think of it like Shopify, but for digital products instead of physical ones.

I’ve been with Kajabi for about three years now. Before that, I spent nearly a decade in online marketing… and before that, I was a mortgage finance executive in Southern California… which, as you can imagine, didn’t end brilliantly around 2007!

From Collapse to Opportunity

Sara Burton:
You’ve had quite a journey. Can you share more about how you transitioned into digital marketing?

Jonathan Cronstedt:
It was very much a series of what I call “happy accidents”.

Back in 2007, I was doing incredibly well in mortgage banking… until the crash hit. Overnight, my investments were underwater, and my income disappeared.

So I asked myself… “What now?”

I started looking at all the marketing materials I used to receive… and noticed they all pointed back to people like Dan Kennedy. I invested in his materials… and through that, discovered Joe Polish.

I called his office and asked to work with him. His rate was $25,000 a day… and I offered him $500 for five minutes.

He said yes.

That moment changed everything.

From there, I immersed myself in the industry… learning from incredible mentors, working with major names like Tony Robbins’ team, Digital Marketer, Success Magazine… and eventually finding my way to Kajabi.

“Luck” vs Creating Opportunity

Sara Burton:
It sounds like luck… but also a lot of action.

Jonathan Cronstedt:
Exactly. People often say they were “in the right place at the right time”… but they forget they put themselves there.

You have to be willing to take risks… to step into uncertainty… and to keep going without knowing the outcome.

Here’s the truth most people don’t like:
You won’t know the price of success until after you’ve paid it.

Most people want certainty before they start… so they never fully commit. They dabble instead of deciding.

And because of that… they never find out how close they were.

The One Common Success Principle

Sara Burton:
At the Kajabi summit, one thing stood out… everyone committed fully.

Jonathan Cronstedt:
Yes… and this is important.

There are countless ways to succeed…
But only one way to avoid failure:

👉 Don’t quit.

That’s the only consistent factor across every successful person.

People search for the “perfect strategy”… but success comes in many forms.

The real pattern?
They stayed in the game.

The Evolution of Online Courses

Sara Burton:
The industry has evolved so much… what’s working now?

Jonathan Cronstedt:
The biggest shift is what we call Engaged Education:

👉 Curriculum + Coaching + Community

Let’s break that down:

• Curriculum → the content (courses, books, training)
• Coaching → support, accountability, guidance
• Community → connection, belonging, shared journey

Most people think content alone is enough… but it’s not.

Only about 5–10% of people can succeed with just information.

The rest need support and accountability.

When you combine all three…
You dramatically increase results for your audience… and revenue for your business.

Why “Online is Cold” is a Myth

Sara Burton:
Some people still say online learning feels cold or disconnected…

Jonathan Cronstedt:
That usually just means they’ve had a poor experience.

We’re living in the most connected time in history.

If this technology existed from the beginning… offices might not even exist.

The issue isn’t online education…
It’s incomplete education.

👉 No coaching
👉 No community
👉 Just static content

That’s not transformation… that’s information.

Is the Market Saturated?

Sara Burton:
What about saturation? People talk about that a lot.

Jonathan Cronstedt:
When people say the market is saturated… it usually means:

👉 The easy money is gone
👉 Or they’re not willing to do the work

Every market is saturated.

If it wasn’t… there probably wouldn’t be money in it.

Here’s the truth:

👉 Information is everywhere
👉 But information alone is useless

As Tony Robbins says:

👉 We are drowning in information… and starving for knowledge.

Knowledge is applied information… guided transformation.

That’s where the opportunity is.

Wild (and Wonderful) Business Ideas

Sara Burton:
Give us some fun examples… what are people actually building businesses around?

Jonathan Cronstedt:
You’d be amazed!

• Teaching core strength for horses (yes… horse abs!)
• Training technicians in sugaring (a waxing alternative)
• Teaching people how to forage mushrooms safely
• A Celtic heavy metal musician who now runs a multi-seven-figure business teaching others

There’s no limit… except your creativity.

And now, thanks to platforms like Facebook…
You can reach even the smallest niche audience easily.

What’s Next?

Sara Burton:
What’s coming next in the industry?

Jonathan Cronstedt:
Two big areas:

1. Mobile-first experiences
   → Being in your customer’s pocket, on demand
2. Stronger community features
   → People want focused, meaningful connection

Ultimately, everything we build is about helping creators succeed.

Because if you succeed… we succeed.

Closing

Sara Burton:
J.Cron, thank you so much. This has been brilliant.

Jonathan Cronstedt:
My pleasure. Thanks for having me.