ArjanCodes is a creator business built around a large YouTube audience, online courses and a newsletter. Since 2021 I have been the developer behind it. This is what I changed, why, and the one call I undid.
Since 2021
the developer behind ArjanCodes
5 areas
changed one at a time
Kajabi
stayed as the course player
Since 2021
the developer behind ArjanCodes
5 areas
changed one at a time
Kajabi
stayed as the course player
In 2021 the whole business ran inside Kajabi. The website, the courses, the newsletter, the forms and the payments all lived in one place.
That was a good start. It was also a ceiling. Every change had to fit what Kajabi allowed.
Kajabi
one platform, everything inside
Stripe
EUR and USD only. Card only.
Team deals
By hand, over email.
No big rebuild. I took one area at a time and fixed the thing the team ran into every week. The course platform stayed in place the whole way.
I moved checkout to Stripe, with prices per country and more ways to pay. After payment, a webhook gives the buyer access in Kajabi, because Kajabi had no API at the time.
I polished and completed the sync, so every Stripe transaction is matched into Moneybird automatically.
I pulled YouTube, LinkedIn, Stripe and other channels into one set of metrics.
I moved the website off Kajabi onto a custom site. Kajabi stayed as the course player.
I built a sales portal at business.arjancodes.com, where companies sign up and buy for their team.
Along the way I tried Pipedream and n8n. Both connect apps quickly, and both look simple on day one.
The work kept needing more customization than those tools allowed. Custom code turned out to be the way to go. It does exactly what the business needs, and I can change it when the business changes.
Simple on day one is not the same as simple in year three.
Kajabi's email tools worked, but every custom form or newsletter design needed a hack. So I moved the newsletter and forms to Kit (formerly ConvertKit), a tool made for email.
Kit did what it promised. But a dedicated tool needs time and attention to feed it, and that time was better spent elsewhere. So I moved the newsletter and forms back into Kajabi. The bill went down and there was less to maintain.
Knowing when to undo is part of the job.
Through every change, Kajabi stayed as the course player. It does that job well, so I left it alone.
Everything around it changed: how money comes in, how the books close, how the team reads its numbers, the website, and how teams buy. That is the work I now do for other creators, around the platform they already have.
Kajabi
course player, untouched
Payments
Stripe, local prices
Accounting
Moneybird, automatic
Numbers
One set of metrics
Website
Custom, room to launch
Team sales
Portal, no back and forth
5 business days, a written plan, and a clear answer on what to own next. Or book a call first and ask me anything.