November 28, 2024 • 22 mins
In this episode of Teaching Mastery Academy, we’re jumping into the transformative process of creating your first digital course. Whether you’re brimming with ideas or don’t know where to start, this episode will guide you step-by-step in turning your expertise into a course that delivers real transformation for your students—and positions you as a leader in your niche.
Here’s what you’ll discover:
- How to come up with a purposeful course idea that aligns your passion, expertise, and audience needs.
- Three key questions to refine your course topic and ensure it resonates with your audience.
- The secret to structuring your course for maximum engagement using milestones and the Impact Framework.
- Why storytelling is essential to your course’s success and how to weave it into your lessons.
- Practical tips for overcoming tech overwhelm, from choosing the right platform to creating polished resources with ease.
- Proven strategies for a successful launch, including building anticipation, offering a beta version, and crafting an irresistible offer.
This episode is packed with actionable tips to help you go beyond just sharing knowledge—creating an experience that changes lives. If you’re ready to take your first step toward creating a course that stands out, this episode is a must-listen!
Resources Mentioned:
👉 Join the waitlist for Teaching Mastery Academy: www.theclassichighschoolteacher.com/TMA
👉 Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend ready to make an impact!
Your voice matters, and your course can too. Let’s make it happen! 🎧
Think of your course (or your course idea,) like a luxury car. People won’t pay top dollar unless it’s high quality, delivers an incredible experience, and meets their needs perfectly. Teaching Mastery Academy teaches course creators like you how to ‘build’ that luxury-level course—one that students trust, complete, and rave about, justifying premium pricing every time. Ready to take your expertise and ensure your digital course stands out from the crowd? Premium courses (and premium returns) start with the core teaching fundamentals that all the best course creators instinctively do, but now I'm showing you how! Join the VIP waitlist for Teaching Mastery Academy now! Click here to learn more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, welcome.
I am so excited that you arehere today.
We are diving into an excitingand transformative process of
creating your first digitalcourse today.
Whether you're just startingout or have an idea bubbling in
your mind, this episode willguide you step by step from your
idea to the impact that it isgoing to create.
(00:20):
If you've ever thought I don'tknow where to start or you're
worried that your course won'tstand out, you're in the right
place, my friend.
Today we are going to uncoversome strategies to build not
just a course, but an experiencethat delivers real
transformation for your students, and it will set you apart as a
leader in your niche.
(00:41):
Coming up with a home-run courseidea is something of a unicorn.
It's kind of like the holygrail.
Everybody in the digitalmarketing industry is wondering
and looking for and researchinginto what is going to be a
course topic to teach.
Which is going to create a homerun course, and it's not
necessarily that hard or thatcomplicated.
(01:03):
I think we tend to overthinkthings to a certain extent, but
in saying that, it isn't justsimply pluck an idea from Thinia
or go on chat GPT and type itin and then it's going to make
you a millionaire overnight.
But so what we need to look atis that every great course idea
starts with an idea, but notjust any idea.
(01:24):
A purposeful idea that is thekey purposeful.
And here's the thing too manycourse creators dive into topics
they think will sell, ratherthan focusing on what truly
aligns with their expertise andwhat the audience needs.
Let's flip that on its head.
I've got three very powerfulquestions that you can use to be
(01:46):
able to help you when you'recoming up with your next course
idea.
If you are wondering whether ornot the topic that you want to
teach is going to be successfulor you're going to have to
rethink things, then these threequestions are critical for that
.
So the first question is whatdo I know deeply that others
struggle with?
(02:06):
So, in other words, we want towork out what we can help our
audience with.
What is their pain point thatwe know inside and out?
But sometimes it's not assimple as knowing that straight
away.
We have to ask ourselves somemore questions to really drill
down and start to work out whatpockets of our subconscious
(02:27):
experience can we tap into tohelp other people solve a pain
point?
It might not necessarily bethat glaringly obvious at first
sight.
So the next question that youcan help to refine that is what
problem do I love solving againand again?
What am I good at?
What do people around me, myfriends and my family what do
(02:49):
they always say oh, you're sogood at doing that.
You're always so helpful whenit comes to doing A, b or C.
So think about a problem thatyou love solving again and again
, and it could be somethingreally simple or it could be
something highly qualified andtechnical, it doesn't matter.
This is the beauty with thedigital course creation world is
that there are no boundarieswhen it comes to niche and
(03:12):
expertise.
You will have an audience thatare needing a problem solved, no
matter how small the problem isor how technical the problem is
or how big the problem is.
So think about a problem thatyou love solving again and again
.
And the third question to askyourself is what transformation
do I want to guide peoplethrough?
Now?
(03:33):
I call this the sweet spotstrategy.
It's the overlap between yourpassion, your expertise and what
your audience really needs.
That intersection, that's yourcourse idea.
But don't stop there.
Dig deeper into the why.
Why does solving this problemmatter to you?
Why does it matter to youraudience.
When you're emotionallyconnected to your course idea,
(03:57):
that passion comes through inyour teaching.
And here's my pro tip for youIf you're not sure what problem
to solve, start a conversationwith your audience.
Hold them on social media, onInstagram stories, for example,
or you could host a Q&A session,or you could go live or even
ask what's the number one thingyou wish someone would teach you
(04:19):
about your niche.
Real feedback will clarify theneed.
And even if all of that is alittle bit overwhelming or
intimidating for you or youdon't really go on social media
that much, then pay attention toall the chat rooms.
Go on places like Threads andsee what people are talking
about and asking for advice orhelp.
Or go onto Reddit, on Google,and see what the community
(04:44):
forums are talking about withinyour niche.
You can sit back and observewithout having to necessarily
put yourself right in the middleof the conversation.
If that's something that, atthe moment, is just a little bit
too out of your comfort zone,there are many ways of being
able to look inside your nicheand see what other people around
you are looking for in terms ofhelp and support, but it's all
well and good having an idea.
(05:05):
It's really important tostructure the idea properly from
the word go.
You need to make up the journey, if you like, and yes, I said
the word journey.
A digital course is more than aseries of lessons.
It's a guided transformation.
Now I teach something I callthe Impact Framework in Teaching
Mastery Academy, and it's allabout reverse engineering your
(05:26):
course, and here's how it works.
There are three steps involvedto it, and you start with the
end in mind.
That's step one.
So what's the transformationyour student should achieve by
the end of your course?
You need to be specific.
For example, instead of sayinglearn social media, which is
really vague, you could aim forcreate a 30-day social media
(05:47):
strategy that increasesengagement by 20%.
Think about how specific I gotthere.
I really drilled down and had avery narrow objective Create a
30-day social media strategythat increases engagement by 20%
.
I didn't just want to includethe whole of social media.
(06:09):
I didn't want to include everysingle thing that I know about
social media to help otherpeople.
I chose a very specific problem.
So that's the first thing isyou want to start with the end
in mind.
So choose a very specific endresult that you can achieve for
your audience.
And then the second step is tobreak it into milestones.
So these are like the bigcheckpoints along the way.
(06:30):
Think of them like steppingstones across a river, for
example.
What do students need to knowor achieve at each stage?
We want to have really clearmilestones.
Think about it if you weretrying to cross a river and
there were two big boulders, butthey were quite a way apart
from each other, it would bedifficult to cross that river
(06:50):
compared to a whole lot oflittle stepping stones that you
might have 10 or 15 of them toget across.
Think of that like your lessons.
You want to make sure that themilestones are broken down into
really easy to digest,manageable, bite-sized pieces
for your audience.
So one lesson would have oneobjective, and so on and so
(07:10):
forth to get to the other side.
And then step three we want tolayer in the details.
So with each milestone, youwant to identify the skills or
the tools or the knowledge thatyour students will need, and
this is where your lessons comein.
A milestone might be, forexample, understand Instagram
analytics, and then thesupporting lessons could include
(07:30):
how to read insights, set goalsor track performance.
So we want to be able to ensurethat each lesson, we don't
overload our audience.
We don't overload our studentsand overwhelm them.
So we start with the end inmind, we break it into
milestones and then from therewe layer in the details, not the
other way around and rememberless is more.
(07:50):
We don't want to overwhelm ourstudents with information.
We want to focus on clarity andmomentum instead.
So every lesson should answerone key question how does this
move them closer to their goal?
We want to ensure that ourlessons are actually engaging,
that our students actually wantto attend and participate and
show up, and it's the part thatmost creators overlook making
(08:12):
your course engaging andunforgettable.
But this is where you, myfriend, can shine as a teacher.
This is where courses becomemake or break courses.
This is where course creatorsbecome experts, are seen as
experts in their niche, or theyget overlooked.
We want to make sure that thecontent that you provide and
your students is engaging.
(08:34):
So in Teaching Mastery Academy,I talk a lot about the
story-driven learning effort andbecause people don't connect
with dry facts, they connectwith stories, and here's how to
weave storytelling into yourcourse.
So you want to start eachmodule with a real-life example
or a case study.
For instance, if you'reteaching email marketing, you
(08:55):
could open with the story of asmall business owner who tripled
their sales using a simplestrategy.
You also want to usemicro-narratives within your
lessons.
So you want to share personalanecdnarratives within your
lessons.
So you want to share personalanecdotes or examples from your
own experience to make yourcontent relatable.
And finally, you want to endwith empowerment.
You want to wrap up each lessonby showing students how the
(09:16):
knowledge or skill they justlearned fits into the bigger
transformation they're workingtowards.
You really want to keep themood and the tone of all your
lessons positive.
We're looking for many smallmicro transformations within
each lesson.
We really want to work onbuilding that confidence of our
students.
So what you could do and here'smy tip for you is you could
(09:37):
incorporate reflective promptsinto your lessons so you could
ask questions like how would thestrategy apply to your
situation or what's one way youcan practice this today?
Because reflection deepenslearning and it creates
engagement and it also meansthat students your students will
sit up and pay attentionbecause they'll naturally want
(09:58):
to be out there.
Subconscious, will naturallywant to answer those questions.
They'll be testing themselvesto see how much prior knowledge
they have going into your courseand how much your course is
going to help them.
So, now that we've got theengagement sorted, we need to
look at the tech, and this is anarea where a lot of people
begin to panic a little bit,because the online digital
(10:19):
marketing world can look veryoverwhelming in terms of
recording and editing andtechnology that people use for
their courses and for all sortsof different types of online
digital training.
So I'm going to break down somefor you, because I know it can
feel overwhelming.
But here's the truth yourcourse doesn't need to be fancy
(10:40):
to be effective.
It really doesn't.
What matters is clarity, butnot complexity.
Your voice, your unique voiceand your unique teaching style
will shine through, no matterwhat tech you've got or don't
have, and this is also anotherreason that makes or breaks
course creators.
Some course creators have anamazingly unique insight into
(11:02):
their niche and how they teachit, and others don't,
unfortunately, and so this iswhere Teaching Mastery Academy
comes in, because we really doteach you how to strengthen your
unique voice and your uniqueability to teach your niche.
But let's get back to tech.
So let's start small, so youcan use platforms like Teachable
or Kajabi, or think of it, tohost your course.
(11:24):
I use Kajabi myself and Ireally love it.
It's an all-in-one platform.
It's user-friendly and itrequires zero tech skills.
It has everything under onehood, so you have emails, you
have your website landing pages,you have your sales pages, you
have all sorts of your checkoutcarts, and my advice would be,
rather than going to differentwebsites to try and build your
(11:46):
course that way, find a platformthat has it all in one, to
start with at least.
And then, obviously, we talkabout the elephant in the room,
which is video content, andvideo content doesn't have to be
overwhelming, and I avoided thevideo camera for years, years
and years and years.
I started digital marketing, ormy first digital course was
(12:07):
back in 2013.
And we didn't have the fancy orthe easy, I should say, access
to tech that we do nowadays withcourse creation.
We did still have our phonesand I found it very intimidating
to stand in front of the cameraand my face in front of the
camera.
It takes a lot of confidence toput yourself in front of the
(12:29):
camera.
It can feel overwhelming, butthe thing it starts simple,
starts really simple, even ifyou just are in front of the
camera for a couple of secondsas an opener, before your
webinar starts or before yourlesson starts.
You don't have to start withsocial media.
If you don't want to be thatpublic, you can do it, you know,
in your gated content.
So that's when people havesigned up for a lead magnet or
(12:52):
people have signed up for yourcourse, and you can introduce
yourself that way.
But video content is crucial.
It is important.
We are a society that consumesvideo content over static images
, and so we need to get with thegame.
We need to be able to play thegame to a certain extent when it
comes to video content.
So all you need really is asmartphone.
(13:14):
A ring light in a quiet spaceand using tools like Loom or
Zoom are great for recordinglessons.
I use Zoom all the time andit's just a really super smart
and super economic way ofrecording your content.
So think about video content,keep it at the front of your
(13:34):
mind.
It is really important.
And then, finally, you want toengage your students with
downloadable worksheets,templates or action guides.
You want to have some softwarethat's going to make your
downloadable products lookreally smart and professional,
and Canva is obviously the go-toplace for that.
It's what I use and it'sfantastic for creating polished,
(13:54):
professional-looking resources.
So if you haven't alreadydiscovered Canva, go check it
out.
It's really good.
Now here's my tip you want toresist the urge to overproduce
your first course.
Perfectionism is the enemy ofprogress.
You want to be focusing ondelivering value and you can
always upgrade later, becauseyour first course is all about
(14:14):
finding your unique voice, yourunique teaching style, and your
first course might notnecessarily be your hit home run
course.
So if you spend all this timepolishing it and making it look
perfect and then it doesn'tactually succeed in the way that
you had hoped it did, thenyou've potentially wasted quite
a lot of time.
So get your first course outthere and test the messaging.
(14:37):
Use it to practice, to reallyget into the groove, get into
the rhythm of teaching onlineand then from there you'll be
able to see, based on thefeedback from your audience,
which direction you want to takethat first course in.
Do you want to carry onpolishing it and making it look
perfect, or maybe you need topivot slightly and try a
different angle to your niche?
Because launching is all aboutconfidence and putting yourself
(15:00):
out there, as I mentioned before, takes confidence.
I know I totally get that,totally understand.
So let's talk about launching.
Your course is ready to go, buthow do you get it into the
hands of your audience?
Well, the secret is creatinganticipation and trust.
So you first of all, want tobuild a launch runway.
(15:20):
You want to start talking aboutyour course weeks before the
launch.
You want to share behind thescenes content, tips related to
your course topic andtestimonials or success stories.
Very, very, very casually dropthe name of your launch product
into that content.
Every time you have a piece ofcontent online, you want to be
(15:41):
casually referencing your launchcourse.
You also want to offer a betalaunch, so invite a small group
of students to enroll at adiscounted rate in exchange for
feedback.
This not only helps you refineyour course, but also gives you
testimonials to use in your fulllaunch.
And if you don't have anaudience yet, if you don't
(16:01):
actually have anybody that'swilling to pay for it, then you
can see if any friends or familyare willing to use the course
themselves and review it for you, because that way you can at
least still get sometestimonials and potentially
some feedback before you createyour full launch.
So having a beta launch isreally important.
Don't look at it from amoney-making point of view.
(16:23):
Don't look at it from a successpoint of view.
Look at it as a part of therefining and editing process for
your full course.
And then, finally, we want tocraft the irresistible offer.
So you want to focus on thetransformation that you're
promising.
Remember, people don't buycourses, they buy solutions.
So you want to use thetestimonials that you just
(16:45):
gathered from your beta launch.
You want clear outcomes and youwant bonuses to make your offer
irresistible.
So don't overlook orunderestimate the effect of
bonuses, because bonuses are.
It's like that two-for-oneoffer that people are getting.
They're getting way more thanwhat you're selling your course
(17:06):
for, and you want people to feellike they're ripping you off.
You want people to feel likethey are getting way more
benefit from the relationshipthan you are.
That is the key to a successful, irresistible offer.
So bonuses are a really goodway to do that, and you can also
(17:27):
look at your testimonials andhave really, really, really,
really clear outcomes.
The solutions your audience arebuying solutions.
What's in it for them?
What will they help themachieve to do?
And don't get caught up inlisting all the features of your
product on your sales page.
Don't confuse features withsolutions.
(17:48):
Features are just simply what'sincluded in the course.
You want solutions.
You want to be listing thesolutions, all the ways that
your course will help youraudience.
It's a very subtle difference,but it's a trap that a lot of
people fall into with theirsales page copy is that they're
so busy listing features oftheir course they're forgetting
that that's not actually thesolutions that they're promising
(18:12):
their audience.
So think about that.
So there you have it, yourstep-by-step guide to creating a
digital course that goes beyondthe surface and delivers real
impact.
Remember, your course isn'tjust about sharing what you know
.
It's about changing lives.
So start with a purposeful idea, structure it with the learner
in mind and don't be afraid toput your own unique spin on it.
(18:34):
If this episode sparked yourinterest and you're ready to
dive deeper, check out TeachingMastery Academy.
The waitlist is open now Headto theclassofchisportteacherycom
forward slash TMA or click onthe show notes up a link in
there to learn more.
Thank you so much for joiningme today, and don't forget to
subscribe, leave a review andshare this episode with someone
(18:54):
who's ready to make an impactwith their first digital course.
It's been a shorty episode, Iknow, but sometimes the short
ones are the most powerful.
So until next time, keepcreating, keep teaching and
remember your voice matters.
Bye for now, my friends.
Hello, welcome.
I am so excited that you arehere today.
We are diving into an excitingand transformative process of
creating your first digitalcourse today.
Whether you're just startingout or have an idea bubbling in
your mind, this episode willguide you step by step from your
idea to the impact that it isgoing to create.
(00:20):
If you've ever thought I don'tknow where to start or you're
worried that your course won'tstand out, you're in the right
place, my friend.
Today we are going to uncoversome strategies to build not
just a course, but an experiencethat delivers real
transformation for your students, and it will set you apart as a
leader in your niche.
(00:41):
Coming up with a home-run courseidea is something of a unicorn.
It's kind of like the holygrail.
Everybody in the digitalmarketing industry is wondering
and looking for and researchinginto what is going to be a
course topic to teach.
Which is going to create a homerun course, and it's not
necessarily that hard or thatcomplicated.
(01:03):
I think we tend to overthinkthings to a certain extent, but
in saying that, it isn't justsimply pluck an idea from Thinia
or go on chat GPT and type itin and then it's going to make
you a millionaire overnight.
But so what we need to look atis that every great course idea
starts with an idea, but notjust any idea.
(01:24):
A purposeful idea that is thekey purposeful.
And here's the thing too manycourse creators dive into topics
they think will sell, ratherthan focusing on what truly
aligns with their expertise andwhat the audience needs.
Let's flip that on its head.
I've got three very powerfulquestions that you can use to be
(01:46):
able to help you when you'recoming up with your next course
idea.
If you are wondering whether ornot the topic that you want to
teach is going to be successfulor you're going to have to
rethink things, then these threequestions are critical for that
.
So the first question is whatdo I know deeply that others
struggle with?
(02:06):
So, in other words, we want towork out what we can help our
audience with.
What is their pain point thatwe know inside and out?
But sometimes it's not assimple as knowing that straight
away.
We have to ask ourselves somemore questions to really drill
down and start to work out whatpockets of our subconscious
(02:27):
experience can we tap into tohelp other people solve a pain
point?
It might not necessarily bethat glaringly obvious at first
sight.
So the next question that youcan help to refine that is what
problem do I love solving againand again?
What am I good at?
What do people around me, myfriends and my family what do
(02:49):
they always say oh, you're sogood at doing that.
You're always so helpful whenit comes to doing A, b or C.
So think about a problem thatyou love solving again and again
, and it could be somethingreally simple or it could be
something highly qualified andtechnical, it doesn't matter.
This is the beauty with thedigital course creation world is
that there are no boundarieswhen it comes to niche and
(03:12):
expertise.
You will have an audience thatare needing a problem solved, no
matter how small the problem isor how technical the problem is
or how big the problem is.
So think about a problem thatyou love solving again and again
.
And the third question to askyourself is what transformation
do I want to guide peoplethrough?
Now?
(03:33):
I call this the sweet spotstrategy.
It's the overlap between yourpassion, your expertise and what
your audience really needs.
That intersection, that's yourcourse idea.
But don't stop there.
Dig deeper into the why.
Why does solving this problemmatter to you?
Why does it matter to youraudience.
When you're emotionallyconnected to your course idea,
(03:57):
that passion comes through inyour teaching.
And here's my pro tip for youIf you're not sure what problem
to solve, start a conversationwith your audience.
Hold them on social media, onInstagram stories, for example,
or you could host a Q&A session,or you could go live or even
ask what's the number one thingyou wish someone would teach you
(04:19):
about your niche.
Real feedback will clarify theneed.
And even if all of that is alittle bit overwhelming or
intimidating for you or youdon't really go on social media
that much, then pay attention toall the chat rooms.
Go on places like Threads andsee what people are talking
about and asking for advice orhelp.
Or go onto Reddit, on Google,and see what the community
(04:44):
forums are talking about withinyour niche.
You can sit back and observewithout having to necessarily
put yourself right in the middleof the conversation.
If that's something that, atthe moment, is just a little bit
too out of your comfort zone,there are many ways of being
able to look inside your nicheand see what other people around
you are looking for in terms ofhelp and support, but it's all
well and good having an idea.
(05:05):
It's really important tostructure the idea properly from
the word go.
You need to make up the journey, if you like, and yes, I said
the word journey.
A digital course is more than aseries of lessons.
It's a guided transformation.
Now I teach something I callthe Impact Framework in Teaching
Mastery Academy, and it's allabout reverse engineering your
(05:26):
course, and here's how it works.
There are three steps involvedto it, and you start with the
end in mind.
That's step one.
So what's the transformationyour student should achieve by
the end of your course?
You need to be specific.
For example, instead of sayinglearn social media, which is
really vague, you could aim forcreate a 30-day social media
(05:47):
strategy that increasesengagement by 20%.
Think about how specific I gotthere.
I really drilled down and had avery narrow objective Create a
30-day social media strategythat increases engagement by 20%
.
I didn't just want to includethe whole of social media.
(06:09):
I didn't want to include everysingle thing that I know about
social media to help otherpeople.
I chose a very specific problem.
So that's the first thing isyou want to start with the end
in mind.
So choose a very specific endresult that you can achieve for
your audience.
And then the second step is tobreak it into milestones.
So these are like the bigcheckpoints along the way.
(06:30):
Think of them like steppingstones across a river, for
example.
What do students need to knowor achieve at each stage?
We want to have really clearmilestones.
Think about it if you weretrying to cross a river and
there were two big boulders, butthey were quite a way apart
from each other, it would bedifficult to cross that river
(06:50):
compared to a whole lot oflittle stepping stones that you
might have 10 or 15 of them toget across.
Think of that like your lessons.
You want to make sure that themilestones are broken down into
really easy to digest,manageable, bite-sized pieces
for your audience.
So one lesson would have oneobjective, and so on and so
(07:10):
forth to get to the other side.
And then step three we want tolayer in the details.
So with each milestone, youwant to identify the skills or
the tools or the knowledge thatyour students will need, and
this is where your lessons comein.
A milestone might be, forexample, understand Instagram
analytics, and then thesupporting lessons could include
(07:30):
how to read insights, set goalsor track performance.
So we want to be able to ensurethat each lesson, we don't
overload our audience.
We don't overload our studentsand overwhelm them.
So we start with the end inmind, we break it into
milestones and then from therewe layer in the details, not the
other way around and rememberless is more.
(07:50):
We don't want to overwhelm ourstudents with information.
We want to focus on clarity andmomentum instead.
So every lesson should answerone key question how does this
move them closer to their goal?
We want to ensure that ourlessons are actually engaging,
that our students actually wantto attend and participate and
show up, and it's the part thatmost creators overlook making
(08:12):
your course engaging andunforgettable.
But this is where you, myfriend, can shine as a teacher.
This is where courses becomemake or break courses.
This is where course creatorsbecome experts, are seen as
experts in their niche, or theyget overlooked.
We want to make sure that thecontent that you provide and
your students is engaging.
(08:34):
So in Teaching Mastery Academy,I talk a lot about the
story-driven learning effort andbecause people don't connect
with dry facts, they connectwith stories, and here's how to
weave storytelling into yourcourse.
So you want to start eachmodule with a real-life example
or a case study.
For instance, if you'reteaching email marketing, you
(08:55):
could open with the story of asmall business owner who tripled
their sales using a simplestrategy.
You also want to usemicro-narratives within your
lessons.
So you want to share personalanecdnarratives within your
lessons.
So you want to share personalanecdotes or examples from your
own experience to make yourcontent relatable.
And finally, you want to endwith empowerment.
You want to wrap up each lessonby showing students how the
(09:16):
knowledge or skill they justlearned fits into the bigger
transformation they're workingtowards.
You really want to keep themood and the tone of all your
lessons positive.
We're looking for many smallmicro transformations within
each lesson.
We really want to work onbuilding that confidence of our
students.
So what you could do and here'smy tip for you is you could
(09:37):
incorporate reflective promptsinto your lessons so you could
ask questions like how would thestrategy apply to your
situation or what's one way youcan practice this today?
Because reflection deepenslearning and it creates
engagement and it also meansthat students your students will
sit up and pay attentionbecause they'll naturally want
(09:58):
to be out there.
Subconscious, will naturallywant to answer those questions.
They'll be testing themselvesto see how much prior knowledge
they have going into your courseand how much your course is
going to help them.
So, now that we've got theengagement sorted, we need to
look at the tech, and this is anarea where a lot of people
begin to panic a little bit,because the online digital
(10:19):
marketing world can look veryoverwhelming in terms of
recording and editing andtechnology that people use for
their courses and for all sortsof different types of online
digital training.
So I'm going to break down somefor you, because I know it can
feel overwhelming.
But here's the truth yourcourse doesn't need to be fancy
(10:40):
to be effective.
It really doesn't.
What matters is clarity, butnot complexity.
Your voice, your unique voiceand your unique teaching style
will shine through, no matterwhat tech you've got or don't
have, and this is also anotherreason that makes or breaks
course creators.
Some course creators have anamazingly unique insight into
(11:02):
their niche and how they teachit, and others don't,
unfortunately, and so this iswhere Teaching Mastery Academy
comes in, because we really doteach you how to strengthen your
unique voice and your uniqueability to teach your niche.
But let's get back to tech.
So let's start small, so youcan use platforms like Teachable
or Kajabi, or think of it, tohost your course.
(11:24):
I use Kajabi myself and Ireally love it.
It's an all-in-one platform.
It's user-friendly and itrequires zero tech skills.
It has everything under onehood, so you have emails, you
have your website landing pages,you have your sales pages, you
have all sorts of your checkoutcarts, and my advice would be,
rather than going to differentwebsites to try and build your
(11:46):
course that way, find a platformthat has it all in one, to
start with at least.
And then, obviously, we talkabout the elephant in the room,
which is video content, andvideo content doesn't have to be
overwhelming, and I avoided thevideo camera for years, years
and years and years.
I started digital marketing, ormy first digital course was
(12:07):
back in 2013.
And we didn't have the fancy orthe easy, I should say, access
to tech that we do nowadays withcourse creation.
We did still have our phonesand I found it very intimidating
to stand in front of the cameraand my face in front of the
camera.
It takes a lot of confidence toput yourself in front of the
(12:29):
camera.
It can feel overwhelming, butthe thing it starts simple,
starts really simple, even ifyou just are in front of the
camera for a couple of secondsas an opener, before your
webinar starts or before yourlesson starts.
You don't have to start withsocial media.
If you don't want to be thatpublic, you can do it, you know,
in your gated content.
So that's when people havesigned up for a lead magnet or
(12:52):
people have signed up for yourcourse, and you can introduce
yourself that way.
But video content is crucial.
It is important.
We are a society that consumesvideo content over static images
, and so we need to get with thegame.
We need to be able to play thegame to a certain extent when it
comes to video content.
So all you need really is asmartphone.
(13:14):
A ring light in a quiet spaceand using tools like Loom or
Zoom are great for recordinglessons.
I use Zoom all the time andit's just a really super smart
and super economic way ofrecording your content.
So think about video content,keep it at the front of your
(13:34):
mind.
It is really important.
And then, finally, you want toengage your students with
downloadable worksheets,templates or action guides.
You want to have some softwarethat's going to make your
downloadable products lookreally smart and professional,
and Canva is obviously the go-toplace for that.
It's what I use and it'sfantastic for creating polished,
(13:54):
professional-looking resources.
So if you haven't alreadydiscovered Canva, go check it
out.
It's really good.
Now here's my tip you want toresist the urge to overproduce
your first course.
Perfectionism is the enemy ofprogress.
You want to be focusing ondelivering value and you can
always upgrade later, becauseyour first course is all about
(14:14):
finding your unique voice, yourunique teaching style, and your
first course might notnecessarily be your hit home run
course.
So if you spend all this timepolishing it and making it look
perfect and then it doesn'tactually succeed in the way that
you had hoped it did, thenyou've potentially wasted quite
a lot of time.
So get your first course outthere and test the messaging.
(14:37):
Use it to practice, to reallyget into the groove, get into
the rhythm of teaching onlineand then from there you'll be
able to see, based on thefeedback from your audience,
which direction you want to takethat first course in.
Do you want to carry onpolishing it and making it look
perfect, or maybe you need topivot slightly and try a
different angle to your niche?
Because launching is all aboutconfidence and putting yourself
(15:00):
out there, as I mentioned before, takes confidence.
I know I totally get that,totally understand.
So let's talk about launching.
Your course is ready to go, buthow do you get it into the
hands of your audience?
Well, the secret is creatinganticipation and trust.
So you first of all, want tobuild a launch runway.
(15:20):
You want to start talking aboutyour course weeks before the
launch.
You want to share behind thescenes content, tips related to
your course topic andtestimonials or success stories.
Very, very, very casually dropthe name of your launch product
into that content.
Every time you have a piece ofcontent online, you want to be
(15:41):
casually referencing your launchcourse.
You also want to offer a betalaunch, so invite a small group
of students to enroll at adiscounted rate in exchange for
feedback.
This not only helps you refineyour course, but also gives you
testimonials to use in your fulllaunch.
And if you don't have anaudience yet, if you don't
(16:01):
actually have anybody that'swilling to pay for it, then you
can see if any friends or familyare willing to use the course
themselves and review it for you, because that way you can at
least still get sometestimonials and potentially
some feedback before you createyour full launch.
So having a beta launch isreally important.
Don't look at it from amoney-making point of view.
(16:23):
Don't look at it from a successpoint of view.
Look at it as a part of therefining and editing process for
your full course.
And then, finally, we want tocraft the irresistible offer.
So you want to focus on thetransformation that you're
promising.
Remember, people don't buycourses, they buy solutions.
So you want to use thetestimonials that you just
(16:45):
gathered from your beta launch.
You want clear outcomes and youwant bonuses to make your offer
irresistible.
So don't overlook orunderestimate the effect of
bonuses, because bonuses are.
It's like that two-for-oneoffer that people are getting.
They're getting way more thanwhat you're selling your course
(17:06):
for, and you want people to feellike they're ripping you off.
You want people to feel likethey are getting way more
benefit from the relationshipthan you are.
That is the key to a successful, irresistible offer.
So bonuses are a really goodway to do that, and you can also
(17:27):
look at your testimonials andhave really, really, really,
really clear outcomes.
The solutions your audience arebuying solutions.
What's in it for them?
What will they help themachieve to do?
And don't get caught up inlisting all the features of your
product on your sales page.
Don't confuse features withsolutions.
(17:48):
Features are just simply what'sincluded in the course.
You want solutions.
You want to be listing thesolutions, all the ways that
your course will help youraudience.
It's a very subtle difference,but it's a trap that a lot of
people fall into with theirsales page copy is that they're
so busy listing features oftheir course they're forgetting
that that's not actually thesolutions that they're promising
(18:12):
their audience.
So think about that.
So there you have it, yourstep-by-step guide to creating a
digital course that goes beyondthe surface and delivers real
impact.
Remember, your course isn'tjust about sharing what you know
.
It's about changing lives.
So start with a purposeful idea, structure it with the learner
in mind and don't be afraid toput your own unique spin on it.
(18:34):
If this episode sparked yourinterest and you're ready to
dive deeper, check out TeachingMastery Academy.
The waitlist is open now Headto theclassofchisportteacherycom
forward slash TMA or click onthe show notes up a link in
there to learn more.
Thank you so much for joiningme today, and don't forget to
subscribe, leave a review andshare this episode with someone
(18:54):
who's ready to make an impactwith their first digital course.
It's been a shorty episode, Iknow, but sometimes the short
ones are the most powerful.
So until next time, keepcreating, keep teaching and
remember your voice matters.
Bye for now, my friends.
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