Melody

Podcasting for Teacher Leaders

In this episode I speak with Brittany Rincon, the Podcast Host of the Teacher Leader Podcast. We talk all about running a podcast while also working a full-time job and having a family. Brittany shares her experiences as an educator and how she hopes to help educators find their voice as an educator inside and outside of the classroom. If you’re an educator looking to start your own podcast or an online course creator wanting to take your marketing to the next level, I highly recommend listening to this episode!
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor

Table of Contents

About Brittany Rincon

Brittany is a podcaster with a passion. She is also a powerhouse educator, mother, and host of the Teacher Leader Podcast. She started her podcast to help educators find their voice and make an impact both inside and outside the classroom. She now coaches teachers who want to launch a podcast and grow their side hustle or business.

Making an Impact

Brittany shares that she wanted to help educators create a podcast to step into their leadership role even if they aren’t working their business or side hustle full time. She says that one of her favorite episodes was speaking with a colleague who later became one of her mentees and launched her own podcast. I share also how important it is to have a way to share your knowledge as a coach or consultant in a bite sized way.

Getting Out of Your Own Way

When it comes to starting a podcast, it can be nerve wracking to think of what topics to cover, how your voice will sound, and scary to book your first guest! Brittany shares that it can be easy to feel intimidated by the whole process, but it’s important to remember that you have something important to share. Your first guests can be a colleague or a close friend which can make it sooooo much easier to have engagement and rapport. I use Calendly to book my guests which syncs up directly to my Google Calendar.

Grab my free Podcast Booking Workflow

Grab this free podcast booking Calendly workflow so you can streamline your booking process, book influential guests, and grow your audience without going back and forth via email!

Life Before and After the Podcast

Life before and after having a podcast can look differently for each person. For Brittany, she was able to find time after her kids went down to sleep so she could focus on her business growth. She uses her podcast to make connections and promote her services and her course. For me, podcasting has given me the ability to meet new and interesting people! It also gives me authority as I build out more courses, services, and programs. Podcasting has been a huge pillar for me to learn how to grow my audience.

Guest Resources

Brittany shares some amazing details about her course Podcasting for Teachers.
You can also find more information about her podcasting audits and other services on her website.
Brittany’s Instagram

The Course Consultant Resources

Join the free Facebook group
Grab the Podcast Planner
Listen and Subscribe to the Podcast
Rise With Instagram Reels

In this week’s episode, I interview Alisha, founder of The Social Impact and co-creator of the Rise with Reels course. Alisha shares all about how she started using Instagram Reels and saw massive growth and engagement for her course launch.

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts

Table of Contents

About the Founder of Social Impact

Alisha never really wanted to be the face of The Social Impact. In fact, she preferred to stay behind the scenes showcasing her portfolio for her clients. But, as time went on, she started to see that early adopters of new social media content types were finding an impressive advantage in the online marketplace. Now, having grown her following to overe 31K followers on Instagram, she’s attributed a majority of her growth, engagement, and course sales due to the power of Instagram Reels.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alisha 🌱 Reels & IG Coach (@thesocialimpact.au)

Why Instagram Reels Could Be the Powerhouse Sales Solution for Your Course

Alisha started her background in video editing and marketing before she took the plunge into owning her own business full-time. And then, COVID-19 hit and as she tried to find a way to build more visibility, she started to play with Instagram Reels. During that time, she became online friends with Monica, or Mon, (Founder of the Social Ista) as she lovingly refers to her business partner. Mon was also an Instagram Strategist and between the two of them, they started to see a lot of their followers ask questions about how to use the new Instagram Reels feature to boost sales and generate new leads. They wanted to create a program that would help their 1:1 clients see more growth in a streamlined approach. Without doing any ads, their enrollment for their first course was a massive success!

Reel Pro Tips

Alisha and Mon were already well-versed in Instagram strategies and decided it was time to scale their coaching business into a signature course. During the interview, Alisha shared some of the most important tips when it comes to creating scroll-stopping content on Instagram Reels.

Cut The Fluff

One important tip that Alisha says is to “cut the fluff.” Instagram Reels is by nature only 15 to thirty seconds long. She says that teaching reels has helped her focus on the most important message and cutting out the rest.

Batch Create Your Reels

The week leading up to recording her reels, Alisha collects inspirational audio files, questions from students, and content that she wants to create. She gets “into the zone” by listening to her favorite music, dancing around to music, and starts to record her Instagram reels. She records her reels filmed and then edits them ideally on the same day so as not to overthink her strategy. She says that during the week, it makes her life so much easier because her content is already ready to post.

Short Hooks & Digestible

Alisha says that at the core, Rise with Reels, teaches you how to hook your ideal customer in a short period of time. In this way, she is teaching you how to sell and promote yourself. Give people short, sharp information and digestible enough so people can understand what it is that you are selling or promoting. Don’t overwhelm them with too much information all at once. Make it simple to follow.

Grab my free Course Creator Starter Outline

Grab this free Course Creator Starter Outline so you can create high impact virtual training programs!

Bring The Energy

People want to feel excited by watching your video reels. She says other people want to feel pumped up. Most people won’t be interested in slow-moving content. By getting into the zone, in whatever way that looks like for you, you can increase your chances of having fun trying out new things in your online business without being tied to the end goal or result.

Guest Resources

Alisha and Mon have plenty of amazing free trainings on their Instagram.
Follow Alisha
Follow Mon
Follow Rise with Reels
Join the waitlist for Rise with Reels

The Course Consultant Resources

Want to join me for free monthly training sessions? I have many free resources and content inside my Facebook group. Need to hone in on your course growth and launch strategy? Hop on a call and see if Course Impact Mastermind is for you!
Other resources: Coffee and Courses – a private curated feed of weekly affirmations for members with special digital product and discounts.
Digital Product Toolkit – The ultimate guide to creating and launching your first template or course in less than a month.
Webinar Funnels and Tech for Course Creators

In this week’s episode, I interview Angela Tan, the Founder of Systems RX. She’s worked with course creators like Vanessa Lau and many others to launch profitable evergreen webinar funnels!
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor

This post may contain affiliate links. For full information, please read my disclaimer.

Table of Contents

About Angela Tan

Angela Tan is the founder of the Systems RX. Angela says that after working with clients 1:1 creating evergreen webinar funnels and automations, she’s refined her process so she can systematize and automate the entire automated webinar process under 6 hours. In this episode she shares her tips and tricks helping 6 figure launch course creators support their families and grow their online businesses through automated webinar funnels. I talk about mindset shifts to sell your course or program on a webinar in another podcast episode.

Tips for Evergreen Webinar Success

Angela says that it’s so important to personalize the automation process so people feel connected with you instead of feeling like a number. She also says that in order to set up your automated sales webinar for success, it’s important to validate your offer. Understanding your offer and your audience can lend it to considering things like how long countdown timers should run for “flash bonuses” or before you close your special discount for your course or program.

Tech Tools for Evergreen Webinar Automations

On the budget-friendly side, Angela says that she recommends using your own website or using Leadpages which can actually track metrics like conversion rates and views. For video hosting, she recommends using Vimeo or a private unlisted Youtube link. For email marketing she says she recommends using ActiveCampaign. For reference, I personally use Convertkit. She also recommends also using a cart checkout platform like Thrivecart.

Live Versus Evergreen Webinars

Live webinar often involve setting up the delivery of your webinars in a live environment. This allows you to validate your webinar, ensure the conversion for your webinar is high, and also provides you with the initial experience to provide the most amount of value to your audience. Evergreen webinars allows you to also leverage the powerful impact that a webinar without having to constantly launch.

Emails for Webinar Funnels

There are many different types of emails needed for a webinar funnel. Many of them in an evergreen funnel are automated so that you can allow your systems to run without you so you can get back to your life and running your online business. Angela says she sometimes schedules and automates up to 20 emails for her clients which include course creators making 6 figure launches! Wow!

Grab My 6 Funnel Ideas

Grab my six profitable funnel ideas so you can promote your course without using pushy aggressive sales tactics.

Guest Resources

I personally recommend Angela Tan’s services for anyone that wants to create an evergreen webinar automations for her VIP Day. So if you already have a high converting funnel and you want to learn how to optimize your live webinar and turn it evergreen, Angela Tan has helped countless other course creators start to leverage their evergreen webinar funnel. You can also check out her many tech tutorials on Instagram (I learn something new every time she posts on Instagram)!
Instagram: The Systems RX

The Course Consultant Resources

Watch and listen to my previous episodes and trainings on how to leverage tech tools! If you like this show, support it by buying me a coffee using the yellow button.
5 Mindset Shifts to Sell Your Course on a Webinar
My Evergreen Webinar Checklist

Leave us a comment below and let us know your biggest takeaway from this episode?
5 Ways to Boost Course Engagement
Table of Contents

This post may include affiliate links. Please read my disclaimer for more information.

Interactive Videos

One of the first lessons you’ll most likely have in your course is an introduction video about who you are and some basic information about the course. The easiest way to actually create engagement in the first lesson is to make it interactive! I love using a special tool for free that helps me embed a HTML code in the first lesson and allows my students to immediately respond via video and also text. You’d be surprised how many personal video messages I get and how much easier it is to communicate and get to know my students on a personal level. If you’re at all curious about this, you have to check out my free video training about how I tripled my course engagement with the first lesson without hopping onto a Zoom call!

Featuring Past Clients and Students

At times, I’ll run my courses with a live support component and let students know that those that complete and apply the tutorials will get featured in some way. Towards the end of the course, I will place a form for students to submit their final end product or result. I use a survey form called Paperform. Full Disclaimer, this is totally an idea I learned inside my current business mentor’s program Lizzy Goddard’s Profitable Playground. I definitely reccommend checking out all of her programs since I’ve learned so much about email marketing, course creation, and in general running an online business.
I’ve featured many of my students in past podcast, blog posts, and social media posts as a special incentive for completing the course!
Student & Client Examples:
How Claudia Makes Passive Income Selling Digital Products
Digital Product Toolkit January Featured Students
Transformational Learning with Adam Kol
Leading on Purpose with Julianna Hynes
How Andrea Made her first course on Social Media Marketing

Social Media Features on Instagram

Silent Co-working Calls

One thing I experimented with during the last live round of my course is conducting silent co-working calls to implement on each module. One thing I’ve kept in mind during silent co-working calls is how to sustainably deliver co-working calls so that they make the most use out of everyone’s time, provides structured support, and also delivers an amazing experience! Many times coaches might feel obligated to add in extra coaching during co-working, but since courses should be contained within the topics at hand, it’s much better to explain and set the ground rules for how your silent co-working calls should be conducted and what is or isn’t the best place for these conversations.

Email Examples sent during a round of my live support in January
Co-working Call Structure

5-10 minutes Introduction and explanation of curriculum and task.
20-30 minutes silent co-working time with a 5 minute reminder before silent coworking is completed. I conduct all my meetings via Zoom and did not record them. All of the notes from the meeting we added to the course. Students could ask questions inside the chat, but they were specifically on the curriculum we covered inside of the tutorial discussed.
10-15 minutes wrap-up – During this time we were able to wrap up any remaining questions.
Triple Your Course Engagement

With One Free Tech Tool

Triple your course engagement with one free tech tool without hopping on Facebook Live or Zoom and done in less than 5 minutes!

Fill In The Blank Templates

There are many times that I will create a curriculum with fill-in-the-blank areas for students to complete, yet sometimes students don’t always find the time to complete these. What I do instead to increase student engagement is send emails to students a week before the assignment is due and then ask that they complete the lesson during our co-working call. Many of my students really loved this structure! I find that if you can afford the extra time commitment to show up for your students during a higher level support round for your course, your students will see better and faster results.

Student Onboarding Emails

Once you have gone through creating your course and provided support for your students, you can re-use and repurpose these emails and create an email automation. Some people feel that they aren’t really necessary, but I definitely believe there are some major benefits to them!

Benefits of Course Student Email Onboarding

I’ve not only seen students go back and work on lessons, but also will see that students have less likelihood of refunds. After onboarding 1,000 students in multiple courses, I’ve found that onboarding emails can serve multiple purposes.
I do have to mention that I think longer courses or programs may lend itself best to student onboarding emails. Smaller courses or instantly downloadable products I don’t believe require long onboarding email sequences.

Specific Directions

Students should really always receive an email with instructions on how to access their lessons. This decreases confusion and diminishes students from having to email you where they should access their curriculum.

Nurture Related Resources

One other thing I’ve done in my courses is created multiple different links to lessons that refer people to products or programs I’ve liked to use. I’ve found this both supports my students as well as helps me support my business. As long as you add your affiliate disclaimer, you can ethically do both!

The Course Consultant Resources

Are you looking for step by step guidance to engage with your students and grow your online coaching business with a signature course or coaching program? Join me for a free consultation to see if we’re. a good fit.
15 Things to Sell with Thrivecart

In this week’s episode, add intro here……
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor

add embed code here from Anchor

Table of Contents

My ThriveCart Review

This post may contain affiliate links. To learn more read my full disclaimer.

I’ve used Thrivecart over the last few months selling courses and I think it’s my favorite when it comes to creating a seamless checkout experience for my course customers. I wrote another article comparing Thrivecart vs. Samcart and why I ultimately chose Thrivecart. After doing a lot of research and trial and error with many digital product cart checkout softwares, I decided to use Thrivecart and I’ve been really surprised about the many different things you can sell using this software.

Having a great cart checkout experience for your customers can mean the difference between someone clicking away or actually getting a digital course sale, so investing in a software, especially one that’s a lifetime fee (yay! no recurring fees) is definitely a worthy investment. Thrivecart does come with a standard account and a pro account (which include affiliate marketing, sales tax calculations, and JV partnership features). I currently have the Thrivecart Pro account.

1. Courses

You could probably guess that courses would be number one on the list. My favorite feature about Thrivecart is their powerful affiliate marketing tool which allows me to create unique affiliate links for everyone that promotes my products that result in a qualifying sale. To create your course cart checkout platform you’ll need to integrate your course platform with Thrivecart. Some platforms like Teachable have an integration built within Thrivecart. Other course platforms, however rely on a third party software like Zapier to connect up Thrivecart to allow the cart checkout software automatically enroll your students into the course platform. Think of it this way, your course platform is Pam Beasley (she gets all the admin stuff done with a smile), your cart checkout software is Jim Halpert (Jim is on the phone making sales), and Zapier is like Ryan (he is kinda pretentious but checks to make sure everyone is doing their job…kinda).
If your course platform isn’t inherently integrated with Thrivecart, whenever your cart checkout software makes a sale (Jim), Zapier (Ryan) will need to send tasks to the course platform (Pam) to make sure that the enrollment gets processed automatically. This makes your enrollments less manual tasks for you to complete.

Here are just a few examples of the course platforms integrated in Thrivecart

2. Memberships

Memberships are yet another way for people to purchase a subscription from your business. The great thing about Thrivecart is that you can set up a membership one time annual fee or even monthly fees. This makes it easier to help people make a financial commitment dependent on their budget and how they prefer to make payments. Thrivecart integrates directly with payment processors like Stripe, Paypal, Google Pay, Applepay, and even Authorize.net (good for international payments). Although I don’t currently have a membership. I have actually purchased or enrolled in memberships where the course creator developed their cart checkout software directly through Thrivecart. I chatted with Danielle Corbett about her membership setup using Thinkific on my podcast.

You can even limit a number or enrollments for a specific price based on quantity limit

I invested in the SOP Success Lab to learn how to optimize your Standard Operating Procedures to level up your team

3. Group Coaching Programs

If you’re a consultant or coach, you may currently offer or want to offer group coaching program. One easy way to enroll your students is through using Thrivecart. I suggest that once your students enroll into your program, that they be provided an onboarding workflow or email sequence. For example, if your coaching clients need to attend an orientation session, an onboarding call with you, or identify the information regarding their group coaching or live Q & A sessions, you can integrate Thrivecart with most major email marketing platforms to deliver the important information via email. Although some “all-in-one” platforms like Kajabi and Katra offer email marketing sequence automations, I believe that it’s best to give your students a simple customized welcome or “orientation-type” email that let’s people know how to find out the most important FAQ about the program. I talked more on my podcast about high impact group programs with Kelsa Dickey

Group coaching programs are a great way to support your clients in an ongoing and structured format. One of my mentors, Theresa Baretta had an amazing group coaching program called Consultant to CEO Accelerator that helped me better understand how to optimize my standard operating procedures, have a clear onboarding and offboarding process for my clients, and strategically hire my team members, a skill that I’ll be able to carry out throughout my business. During my time in her program, I made over 5 figures in under 6 months. I was amazed at how professional and supportive Theresa was during my mentorship with her.

I took Theresa's Group Coaching Program and made over 5 figures under 6 months

4. Ebooks

Ebooks are another great example of sharing the step by step tips and strategies and perfect for content creators like bloggers or podcasters that don’t want to step in front of the camera. Simply add images, content, and a nice cover image and viola! You have an ebook that can be sold on repeat to potential clients or course content. You can easily repurpose content from your blog posts and identify some frequently asked questions and compile an ultimate resource. Canva is my ultimate favorite resource to design and create my lead magnet and social media assets. It’s free, but there are some definitive advantages to have the pro account. I talk more with Michelle about how to create an ebook.

A previous ebook that I created about personal finances

A great ebook by Passive Income Superstars about List Monetization

5. Canva Templates

Canva templates are my all-time favorite type of resource to sell. I actually created an entire product called Profitable Presentation Pack based off of Canva and it is one of my favorite resources! You’ll want to preferably use Canva templates which will allow you to share a link directly from your Canva assets to create a template. Make sure that you remove all the custom information and your branding so others can benefit from your template! I also like to use “Cupcake Ipsum” to create fun template type of wording instead of bland “Lorem Ipsum” for my templates.
My good friend Leanne Scott over at Passive Income Superstars actually has an amazing 30 page ebook template pack that’s perfect for just starting out on a new ebook.

You can copy a direct link to share a template via Canva

6. Audio Files

Audio files like .mp3 files are another interesting asset that you can sell directly from Thrivecart. So if you’re a podcasters, Youtuber, or social media influencer repurposing content you already have is going to be a great way to make money using videos or content you may already have on hand. One way to host an audio file without a course platform is to use Google Drive or Dropbox and send purchasers directly to the thank you page which links back to Dropbox file.

7. Photoshop Files or Graphic Assets

If you’re a Graphic Designer you can use your design skills to create graphic assets using Photoshop. You’ll want to make sure that you package up your file and provide specific directions on how to use your file for their needs. If you have many different digital assets to sell, you can apply to open a digital shop on Creative Market. One of my student’s Claudia Orengo actually has an entire training on the Beginner’s guide to Passive Income which shows you step by step how she creates digital products to sell on many different creative marketplaces.

Claudia's training shows you how to paint and sell digital clipart

Claudia's training shares how you can create digital assets to sell on creative online marketplaces.

8. Stock Photos

I’ve spent a lot of money on stock photos while working on client projects or updating my website. Quality stock photos can be time consuming to search, especially if you’re looking for stock photography that’s specific to a certain niche for your website or social media like Instagram. I like using IvoryMix for my stock photography for my website and I like they they offer Canva graphics for my different social media posts on Instagram.

I use IvoryMix for stock photos for my website

9. Books

If you’re an author, you can sell digital versions of your book or you can sell physical copies as well. Thrivecart allows you to obtain full mailing address information to mail your book.

10. Services

Most business owners aren’t aware that you can sell services in Thrivecart! If you’re a freelancer or an agency, you can even sell packaged services that streamline your onboarding process so that you can send someone a one-time payment or recurring payment instead of an invoice and having to follow-up if something doesn’t get paid. I learned so much from my time in Theresa’s Consultant to CEO Accelerator Program, that I created a workshop on how I landed high ticket clients called Sweet Service Success.

My winning workshop for landing high ticket clients

11. Consultation Calls

Consultation calls are another thing you can sell using Thrivecart. I’ve used Thrivecart to sell one hour consultation calls in the past using Zoom and Calendly. For example, if you send someone to book a consultation call using Thrivecart, you can send your customers immediately to the booking link to schedule a time with you rather than going back and forth trying to confirm a time to speak. What I like about this is that I don’t have to schedule discovery calls and I use my service page to share with people exactly how they can book a session with me.
I currently offer consultation sessions via Voxer through my Course Coach for a Day package which allow me to customize my training reccommendations to my students and clients. Below are some nice things that my clients have said about working with me.

12. Google Documents

Outside of Canva templates, Google Documents are my favorite resources to sell. I’ve sold different templates over time and personally I feel that Google Documents are the easiest to create as well as the simplest to implement. Templates make it easier for the student to take action because there is a step by step system to follow so that you can clearly follow a framework or plan.
In December 2020, I made the Podcast Planner to help you plan and organize and streamline your podcast production process. In January 2021, I decided to run a live round of the Digital Product Toolkit teaching students how to follow my step by step strategies to create templates and featured some amazing alumni.

I made the Podcast Planner templates and resources with Danielle in December 2021

Here's an example of my Digital Product Toolkit Template made with Google Documents

The Email Closer by Dani Paige is a great resource for sales email templates

13. Physical Products

Although I primarily work with selling digital products, it’s important to note that you can also sell physical products like books, makeup, clothing, and anything that you want to sell online!

14. Bumpsell

Upsells or bumpsells are a really great way to showcase other complementary products that will help your customers achieve their learning goals.

15. Website Assets

If you are already designing websites for your customers, why not sell website templates? I currently like to use Elementor Pro to design my website landing pages. You can actually save files and then your customers can import the designs and customize them as needed to fit their website needs. Below is an example of a Holiday Salespage template created by Kimi Kinsey. Her designs are easy and simple to import and customize using Elementor. She also has other amazing resources including her Tools and Resources page tutorial to design and create a helpful page for other entrepreneurs.

The Course Consultant Resources

I hope that this blog post will give you an idea of how to create and sell a digital product and how Thrivecart has helped me make money in my online business. If you decide to invest and purchase Thrivecart through my affiliate link, I offer a complimentary one hour session to help you customize your Thrivecart workflow so that you can get any questions answered on how to use this powerful software.
Alumni of the Digital Product Toolkit

Table of Contents

In early January 2021, I ran the Digital Product Toolkit live round complete with co-working calls that helped students implement fast. Students had 30 days to complete the project: create a digital product or course by the end of the month! Although I had so many students join and enroll, these students went above and beyond to create their digital products or programs!

Kept Creations Monthly Membership

Kim Parkinson

Kim has been teaching art and crafts since 2004. Her teaching journey started with a scrapbooking mini-book. After her husband encouraged her to teach at a local shop, she did it and loved it!
Kim also owned and operated a small store called Kept Creations which opened in 2012 and closed in 2017. Now she helps crafters of all kinds create beautiful art through her online membership.

Don’t craft alone, it’s time to learn in a community.

With almost 20 years of experience as a craft instructor (both in-person and online), Kim has brought crafting to countless people over the years. Through her monthly membership, she teaches you how to create cards, gifts, home décor, journals, paintings, scrapbooks, and more.

She helps you create beautiful art on basically countless types of projects. Whether you want to start a scrapbook or learn how to stamp, Kim’s here to guide you and instruct you on your crafty journey.

Learn More

Brand Identity Kits

Bethany McCamish

Bethany spent five years as an English teacher and graphic design instructor building a regionally recognized curriculum. For more than 7 years she was integrated into the Pacific Northwest arts community running and curating shows that tell a story, all while sharpening her communication skills. She now helps entrepreneurs stand out by creating stunning branding.

Stop scrolling on Pinterest and start building a clear cohesive brand backed by psychology.

Are you looking to make an impact online but feel drowned out by, well, everything including the endless Pinterest options?
A cohesive brand will help you carve out a niche, but a cohesive brand that is backed by psychology driven design (aka a specific archetype) will give you the power to speak with confidence in your visuals and messaging to your ideal clients. That means your effort to grow can actually work.
Each kit also comes with access to a step-by-step video tutorial that explains how to customize, edit, download, and use your logos and design elements.

Learn More

Notion Planning Kit

Elena Kozliakova

Elena Kozliakova is Solution Designer that helps creative entrepreneurs to streamline their life and business with simple, smart and stylish systems so they could make money, delight their clients and enjoy what they do every day.

Notion Planning Kit: Streamline your life without putting yourself in a box.

Put all the puzzle pieces of your life together with ease all in one place. No more hours spent searching for “that important document”. Confidently organize your ideas, resources and deadlines in one powerful tool.
✔️ Notion Basics mini-training to help you navigate the tool and identify your life planning structure.
✔️ The Life Organizer Template based on my 6 step D.A.P.R.I.A. framework to design your all in one productivity hub.
✔️ Video overview of the templates included so you can examine the “puzzle pieces” you need to put in place to boost your productivity according to your personality.
✔️ Notion customization workshop to help you develop your own structure that meets your needs and suites your lifestyle.
Plus these exclusive bonuses!
➕ Notion Planning live training with co-working hours and support to help you create your life organizing structure.
➕ Tag library to use across your workspace for easy navigation and search.
➕ Custom curated icon collection to save you time and make planning process fun and enjoyable

Learn More

Interview Prep Workbook

Tina Crouch

Tina Crouch is a Business English communication coach and author. Her love of language started in childhood while staying up all night with novels and a flashlight… and that led to getting a business degree and working as a marketer, copyeditor, and coach over the last 7 years.
After adventuring in 15 countries and studying Italian for fun, she started Tina Teaches English. All of Tina’s written material and courses were developed during hundreds of 1-on-1 coaching sessions with ESL learners.

You can confidently walk into your interview

Tina shares her exact steps to help English Language Learners prepare for their next interview with this quick and actionable guide to learning the essentials to landing a paying job.

In this action packed workbook, you’ll learn…

✔️ Targeted practice. Almost any Business English course is going to improve your English… but interviews are specific situations with specific needs. This workbook helps you practice the answers that hiring managers want to hear.

✔️ Only the most useful grammar. Simple past? Present perfect? …Continuous? This workbook has fill-in-the-blank grammar templates to help you talk about your past career experience!

✔️ No more wasted time. The workbook uses Tina’s experience, the advice of certified Human Resource experts, and the most frequently asked questions from her coaching students!

Learn More

Want to learn more?

Grab the Digital Product Toolkit

Learn More

Want to be my next success story? These are just a few of my featured alumni that participated in the live round of the Digital Product Toolkit! I regularly give hands on support to my students so that they can implement, grow, and succeed by making money through creating courses and impactful training programs. Join the full program inside The Business of Courses Membership!
Content Marketing for Course Creators

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor

Table of Contents

About Dr. Gee Nonterrah

In this episode, I interview Dr. Gee Nonterrah is a Biomedical Scientist, Biology Professor, and Content and Writing Coach! If that’s not enough, Gee has been featured on MediaVine, Work from Home Woman, and so many more online brands. In fact, after one of her clients worked with her to develop her unique content marketing strategy, the PR team for Michelle Obama actually reached out to her to become an ambassador. During our conversation, we break down some major myths around content creation for course creators and how to convert this free content into a course sale!

Why Content Marketing?

Gee says that you need to create free content as a way to provide a “taste test” like an appetizer to lead into a sale for a larger course, ebook, book, or service. If you include a sales message and direct people into a funnel your content marketing will work for you by utilizing your organic reach through search engine optimization, social media, or video search engines like Youtube. Nonterrah says that content marketing can seem like a waste of time only if you aren’t strategic about your content marketing or messaging to direct people to the sale.

Does Content Marketing Work?

If you are omitting a sales message from your sales content, you are just doing charity work. Always ask for the sale.

Gee Nonterrah Tweet

Dr. Nonterrah says that if you are omitting a sales message, you are just doing charity work. But if you showcase your digital product or services, people can move from the free content to the paid services and digital products or courses. Content marketing works because you can attract and convert your ideal clients or customers!

Content Marketing Strategy

Gee discusses several tools she uses for her Youtube strategy including VidIQ and Tubebuddy to rank on Youtube search as well as utilizing the Yoast plugin for her podcast shownotes. She also does research by taking an idea that is performing well on the Youtube platform before creating content for her own channel. Gee also plays with different thumbnails images and titles. She says to avoid creating click-bait titles that have nothing to do with the actual content. The titles should be catchy but overdeliver on content quality.

Analysis

In this stage, I highlight the main considerations you can take to break down your own content marketing strategy! Like Gee, you can analyze your competitors through researching search engine optimization and create content that people are actively looking for and provide high quality content to lead to your sales funnel.

Free Funnel Ideas!

Grab my 6 free profitable funnel ideas to sell your course on autopilot!

Name

Email

Visibility

By using these strategic content and messaging, Dr. Gee’s clients have been able to land ambassador programs with people like Michelle Obama not to mention sell more for their program and services. By boosting their visibility and remaining consistent, you can improve your ability to provide strategic messaging content to your audience so that they can convert into your paid programs, courses, and services.

Guest Resources

Follow Dr. Gee Nonterrah on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geenonterah
Follow Dr. Gee Nonterrah on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GertrudeNonterahTV/videos
Learn more about Gee: http://geenonterah.com/
The Heart-Centered Way to More Sales

In this week’s episode, add intro here……
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor

Table of Contents

About Kristen Achziger

In this episode, I speak about human centric marketing and interview Kristen Achziger, a Copywriting and Launch Strategist, who helps people convert into sales in an ethical way. Kristen and I were friends for many years in college. She started her business helping other business owners in commercial and brand video development. She later transitioned into ethical sales copywriting for business owners that want to sell their services or promote their digital products and courses. Kristen shares her main tips and takeaways for helping people land more sales without coercion or making people feel guilty.

Human Centric Sales

So what exactly is human centric sales? Kristen shares inside of the podcast episode that the copywriting tactics should be focused on persuasian and not coercion. She talks about how coercion amplifies pain points and manipulates people based off of real vulnerabilities instead of empathizing and allowing people to make educated choices based off of the information presented. Kristen shares more about the key differences in strategy for heart centered sales in the graphic below from her Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sales Page Strategist (@goingultraviolet)

Share Your Story

One especially important way to support your audience’s decision making is to provide information about your story in an authentic way. By sharing any insights, examples, and your story – you can provide background knowledge about opportunities to work with you on a closer level either for services, group programs, or self paced courses. This is especially important in email newsletters or sales emails to nurture your audience before you begin the process of selling.

You don't have to persuade someone to buy something they know they need. - Kristen Achziger

GoingUltraviolet Tweet

Share Your Excitement

Kristen shares that it’s important to share about your courses, digital products, or services in a way that is exciting. I mean, selling courses and services should feel exhilirating! You are in fact helping people by supporting them reach their goals! Create an experience for your audience to feel excited about their purchase so they can go on and conquer their goals! As you continue to work with them either through their courses or services, this provides them with a higher level of support as they work towards accomplishing their next goal.

Share the Details

Sharing the details about the offer including what’s included, pricing, and special bonuses you’ll be able to provide your audience with the best information possible to make a decision based on all the information provided. By not being up-front about all of the information you may not be able to share all of the information needed in order for people to make educated decisions based on the information.

Grab my free Course Creator Starter Outline

Grab this free Course Creator Starter Outline so you can create high impact virtual training programs!

Name

Email

Guest Resources

Like many, Kristen began the process of creating her own unique digital products to help individuals create ethical sales copywriting if they were not able to invest or work with her closely 1:1. She now has a shop available for a variety of products covering the topic of ethical copywriting. You can learn more about her business Going Ultraviolet in the following areas.
Instagram
Going Ultraviolet Shop

The Course Consultant Resources

Are you looking to create a course or digital product without pulling your hair out, spending hours huddled up with your laptop, or trying to earn a Youtube degree? Join us inside of the free Facebook group where we have trainings, special community building conversations, as well as discuss how to build your income and online business.
My 2020 Year in Review
This post may contain affiliate links. I only recommend products or services I have personally use or are passionate about. For more information, review my disclaimer.
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor

Table of Contents

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Melody Johnson | Online Course (@thecourseconsultant)

January 2020
I’m going to try to review the entire year and process everything that happened both good and bad. Over the past year, I’ve transitioned from a freelancer, to an agency, and then into a course creator which was incredibly challenging for many different reasons. I increased my rates over 3-4 times over the course of three months, but I hope this blog post serves as a reminder that I’m still learning and although I’ve seen many wins I’ve also had my share of lessons of what not to do.
In January 2020, I was fully invested in Pete McPherson’s Online Impact Community and began to pivot my already thriving one person freelancing company into a bigger online brand. I met Pete Mcpherson back in 2019 when I used to have an entirely different business in the FinCon community. I first learned how to develop and design my website and pretty much understand a lot about blogging thanks to his course: Elementor for Bloggers. I still refer back to that course to understand little tweaks that I need to understand about the tech side of Elementor and designing my web pages. I’m still really close friends with people I’ve met in that group.
At the end of January/ beginning of February, launched my new podcast “The Online Course Consultant Show” and shared about 7 Course Creation Tips You Need to Know . This remains to be one of my top downloaded episodes. A majority of income was still coming from Upwork, I also launched an entirely new website and created entirely new social media handles.
My income was primarily coming from freelancing services:
Freelancing Blog Post Writing
Freelance Course Creation Services
Blog Posts Created:
How to Create an Online Course 2020

Best Online Course Platforms 2020

5 Simple Steps to a Successful Digital Product Launch

How to Build an engaging email list without a big following

Moving and renovating

In January, my husband and I finally put our home on the market. We had lived in metro Detroit area in Michigan for over 6 years and were about 2 miles away from my husband’s parents. During our time in Michigan, my husband and I held a total of three jobs each! You can obviously see we change things up frequently! This was our first home that we lived in together after we got married. Below is a picture of the kitchen and dining area. I was a bummed we couldn’t stay there and “enjoy” the renovations we did to the house which included adding granite countertops to the kitchen, new kitchen sink, and an entirely brand new kitchen cabinet set.
Our house was on the market for 5 days and we had three offers and it was under contract by the end of the week which closed about a month later! We had been commuting for months in 2019 renovating the house and driving to my husband’s job in northern Michigan in the middle of winter. Needless to say, I was happy when it sold!
February 2020

In February, I had a serious dip in revenue which made me really nervous about how I was going to handle making more income in a way that was sustainable financially for my family. I instinctively thought that each month I would be making more money from the previous month as a freelancer. But some of my freelancing gigs were much less frequent and though I was paid retroactively for some projects completed in January, there were less active projects this month. At the end of February, I only had $200 in my business bank account.
I still managed to stay consistent though with SEO and creating fresh content, because I knew creating more revenue was going to really be a long game instead of only focusing on shortcomings. I published my second podcast episode and blog post: What is a Salesfunnel and How to Make One.
I also published a blog post and podcast episode with Michelle Jackson called How to Create and ebook and sell it.
I also realized that at the time my friend Pete Mcpherson lived closer to my new home. So we had a nice chat in a coffeehouse and I showed him my coworking spot and I interviewed him my my third episode of my podcast: Website Design Tips for Course Creators.
Pete also created a fun Youtube video which I was featured in. I still actively get people messaging me or emailing me that they found me from this video. You should check out his channel. I actually landed a client later in 2020 thanks to this video which resulted in about a 5 figure deal.
Blog Posts Created:
7 Course Creation Tips You Need to Know
What is a Salesfunnel and How to Create One
Website Design tips for Course Creators
How to Make and Ebook and Sell it

March 2020

In March, I went to Social Media Marketing World and met some amazing friends. I still follow and am friends with many of the lovely people there. I volunteered as a speaker concierge helping organize and ensure that all of the speakers on stage and emcees had their mics and their slide decks available to the AV tech crew. It was so much fun.
I was featured on a Youtube Video with Mike Damazo where I talked about courses. Funny story, I never actually launched the course I was promoting that time of the year! This was my second solo business trip without my husband. I normally prefer to travel with him. I ended up staying in a really fun hostel downtown San Diego. I really enjoyed the ambience. Sadly, this was my last really big social networking event for the year (at least in person). I was also bummed because I was supposed to attend an in-person graduation for completing my Master’s degree in Instructional Design but it was later cancelled due to Covid.

Inspired by the great content I received from Social Media Marketing World, I went on to publish three blog post and podcast episodes in March.
Blog Posts created:
Social Media Strategy for Course Creators with special guest Andrea Jones
How to use social media to grow your business
How to Make and Sell Digital Printables with guest Chelsea Brennan
Behind the Scenes of 6 Digital Course Creator Launches

April 2020

By April, I was getting really burned out from all of the freelancing, staying up late and working solo at home during quarantine. I was starting to miss my family a lot since I normally visited them during this time, but due to COVID restrictions we weren’t able to visit. I invested heavily into coaching to create my “first digital product” or mini-course. My first digital product was actually a more in-depth course called The Course Designer’s Toolkit, which is actually retired!
Projects Completed:
During this month, I was working closely with a referral I received from Social Media Marketing World. I worked with several clients for smaller projects on upwork.
Resources Invested In:
I spent the better half of 2019 trying to research an affordable and high converting cart checkout software. I had tried many in the past, but I decided to invest in Thrivecart. I went on to create multiple digital products and consulting services and made over 5 figures using the platform. I really appreciated the fact that the product was a one time purchase. Since then, I haven’t really seen other cart checkout platforms that are one time payments. Most, if not all, are a monthly recurring payment. I also appreciated the fact that there is some really robust features for affiliate marketing. I have so much more to say on the subject, but I’ll just let you read on… 😊

Blog Posts created:
Facebook Chatbots for Facebook Ads
An Interview with Facebook ads Manager Latasha James

May 2020

During this month, I started to transition and look into hiring more team members specifically surrounding Instructional Design. I hired my first non-assistant hire in May. I really was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to scale my operations specifically because I had never hired anyone before. My first hire was amazing! He was a referral from my grad school director.
Resources invested in:
I hadn’t hired anyone else besides a virtual assistant previously, so I decided to invest in Theresa Baretta’s Optimized Outsourcing Manual. It was really helpful because there were job description templates for the main hires I was looking to hire. I went on to hire two paid interns, a new virtual assistant, a project manager, as well as three video editors, and a voiceover artist thanks to this template!
I loved Theresa’s templates so much, that I wanted to learn how to optimize my standard operating procedures that I decided to invest in her monthly membership – SOP Success Lab. I was able to really understand the process in which I was able to onboard my clients, outsource more admin tasks to my team, and become more of a CEO in my mindset. Overall I felt more confident delegating my tasks as well as really charging higher prices. In May, I decided to shift to an agency model. At the time, I was charging less than $2k for my done for you services. I increased my prices to $2k for done for you services as a direct result of the mindset shifts I received from Theresa’s help.
I wanted to really give my website a make-over and so I decided to invest in some templates by Amanda Genther. The framework inside of her templates Salespage in a Day helped me understand the key things needed to create compelling copywriting as well as use templates to sell my services and digital products. As a direct result of using these templates, I’ve landed high ticket clients ranging from $2k-$32k.
I also hired out help to create more customized salespages thanks to Bethany who I previously met at Fincon back in 2019. Bethany and I went on to work on several additional projects and we actually live fairly “close” to each other in Arizona! The work she did was really professional and quick.
I started to take more and more courses from Elizabeth Goddard about email marketing. I took Lizzy’s course (at the time included in her membership Convertkit Club which is now retired) called Email Rockstars. It reinforced the fact that I needed to automate and send out more emails to my email list. I also really loved more fundamental training inside of her course ConvertkitHer course really went into depth both from a technical standpoint as well as an instructional and strategy standpoint about building confidence nurturing and selling to your email list. At the time of this post, I’m now inside of Elizabeth Goddard’s group program, The Profitable Playground.
Blog Posts:
Work from Home Tips during Quarantine
How to Avoid Burnout while working from home
Digital Products Created:
I created the Profitable Presentation Canva Pack as a direct result of creating many different digital presentations for my clients. I wanted an affordable option for people that were already creating presentations but didn’t want to hire a designer.
I launched a mini-course on course creation called the 5 Day Course Creation Challenge. I started to automate my digital products and started seeing more evergreen sales thanks to Lizzy’s course!
Collaborations:
I spoke at my alma mater CSU Fullerton about creating a winning portfolio for starting freelancing as an Instructional Designer. I had a presentation developed about the key things to consider when developing a freelancing agency and getting started owning your business. It was a lot of fun!

June 2020

In June, I was scaling so quickly I decided to raise my prices dramatically and joined Theresa’s Consultant to CEO Accelerator Program.
I landed a $7k client the very next month that I started working with Theresa. I began to invest heavily in optimizing and creating professional videos. I started to use a program called Vyond which I had previously used in corporate training and development for professional animated videos.
This month was heavily spent creating systems, organizing my workflows, as well as understanding how to operate as an agency and really support my clients. It was also wrought with so much pain and turmoil in the United States. The Black Lives Matter movement and the murder of George Floyd really moved me to create a safe and supportive space for my audience members who were grieving and trying to understand how to cope with racial injustice. The conversation still is happening in the United States, but I think this was a really big wake-up call for everyone to have these very important conversations to create change.
During that month, I decided to give away 100 copies of The Profitable Presentation Canva Pack to Women of Color Podcasters. I also spoke at the Creatress Summit about creating online courses.
Blog Posts Created:
5 Steps Towards Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace
How to Avoid Burnout While Working from Home
How I Motivate My Team

July 2020

During this month I was still working very closely with my clients as an online elearning agency. I created monthly power hour consultations which helped other new course creators to work with me without having to invest in my agency. I also saw some incredible results from working with my clients back from earlier in the year. My good friend Adam Kol started seeing some amazing growth from his group coaching program. I’m always really proud of my students when they see growth, make sales, and take their offers to scale their business!
I also spoke in July at Podthon Summit about creating Pitchdecks to help grow your sponsorships as a podcaster.
My husband actually received a new offer to move from northern Michigan to southern Arizona. And for the fourth time of the year, we started the process of moving – this time across the country. It was really challenging moving my business to an entirely new state. At the same time, I was grateful for the level of support that Theresa and her team provided because I was such a nervous wreck!
Resources Invested In:
I invested in a digital course bundle from Bundle.co. There were so many course creators that were involved with the bundle. One of the many courses that were included was Elizabeth Goddard’s Profitable Live Training Course. During that month I learned a lot about her methodology around creating and launching a course quickly. I found her sense of humor refreshing, her tutorials very instructional, as well as her Facebook group and community very supportive. I also really loved that she had a onesie on her website homepage (just saying).
I also invested in the Affiliate Program Toolkit a month or two previously and started learning so much about affiliate marketing for courses. I had never previously been interested in affiliate marketing. I had tried affiliate marketing for Amazon links, but never actually saw any progress. In fact I never made one sale. I really loved Zoe Linda’s fun and playful approach to internet marketing. I also appreciated that she was a Potterhead and Ravenclaw.
Blog Posts
How to Create an Online Membership Group
Transformational Learning with Adam Kol
Content Creation Tips by Pete Mcpherson

August 2020

In August, many of my projects were still in full swing. I was now completed moved in southern Arizona and it was incredibly hot! One day it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheight. I decided that after working as an agency, I wanted to start creating more digital courses. After applying the concepts from Lizzy’s Paid Live Trainings course, I created my workshop Systematic Funnels and launched it in about 10 days. You can check out the alumni blog post here.
I was so excited to be involved in the program because it had previously taken me months to create digital products. Her course and methodology really helped me to create content quickly without overthinking it.
This month was the highest amount of income I ever received roughly to the tune of $20k. I was so incredibly grateful for the lessons learned and the people I had worked with. During this month I had so much more clarity about the type of business I wanted to run, the lifestyle I wanted to lead, and I realized things weren’t exactly in alignment. I wanted to help clients and customers that might not be able to invest in the high ticket programs and services and so because of this mental shift I decided to invest in Lizzy’s Profitable Playground group coaching program to create a more digital product based business.
That month I also decided to create a free training called: How to Make a Magical Offer That Sells Like Hotcakes. During the training, I also showcased my bundle product which included several other digital products I had created previously called the Course Creator CEO Bundle.
Digital Products Created:
Systematic Funnels Workshop
Course Creator CEO Bundle
Blog Posts:
Leading on Purpose with Julianna Hynes

September 2020

In September, I started to shift my business model to creating more passive income products and reducing my 1:1 client work. I started to kick up more content creation and began to plan out different ideas for more growth using the digital product and course route. I became incredibly excited as I dug into the curriculum for Elizabeth’s program and started meeting more amazing friends in the group. I had a few people ask about how I started freelancing and booking high ticket clients. I knew that I wanted to create an on-demand offer that would help people learn more about the tools and processes I had in place to make more money through selling high ticket services. So, I created a masterclass and workshop and sold the Sweet Service Success workshop. Since then, I’ve been able to coach and share some tips on helping people start growing their income through services as well as selling courses.
Blog Posts Created:
Creating Effective Video Training
My Journey to Five Figure Months and Beyond
How to Design Creative Templates to Sell on Creative Market
5 Easy Way to Pivot into a High Ticket Service
Digital Product Created:
Sweet Service Success

October 2020

In October, I started actively saying no to new 1:1 client work because I wanted to focus my efforts to creating more digital products. This was probably the hardest decision to make. Knowing that someone would be willing to pay me $20k or more for my services and saying no helped me to focus on creating a lifestyle that aligned with my ideal work day instead of chasing down high ticket services. I was able I began to wind down on my 1:1 projects and begin the process of supporting them as the projects wrapped up.

On a personal note I was a bit sad that the pandemic was still going on because I actually love dressing up for Halloween. I was a bit bummed so my husband ended up baking some halloween treats with me and we individually bagged prepackaged candy into ziploc bags and placed them outside on a table for any neighborhood kids to grab in a safe environment. I still wish I had worn something fun for Halloween. Oh well.

Resources invested in: Lizzy’s Rock your Day of Voxer course was delivered as part of the Group Coaching program. What I found really interesting about this service was that I didn’t have to feel stuck to having zoom calls. Instead I played around with my own version of having Voxer available for both students who previously purchased my bundle the previous month. I still prefer Voxer over Zoom calls for coaching my team members as well as my clients. I find it’s so much easier to run errands while also being productive. I also love that Voxer gives you a personalized connection with your customers rather than feeling restriced to one Zoom call. You can check out one of her trainings on the subject of Voxer sessions in her training: Magical Low Effort High Value 1:1 Offer.

*New Service Created*

Inspired by Lizzy Goddard’s Voxer 1:1 services, I created my version called “Course Launch Framework” where I help new course creators map out and discuss their ideas about launching their courses or digital products.
I also ran a quick sale on several products I had created for Halloween! It was such a fun holiday sale that I knew I wanted to run another one in December and the New Year.

Blog Posts Created:

My Anti-Approach to Launching

How to Convert Your Email List into a Cash-Flowing Party

Thrivecart Vs. Samcart Review

November 2020

It was November and things actually started cooling down in Arizona! I was shocked that the summer months of over 100 degres Fahrenheight were cooling down to 40-50 degree weather. I realized then that I was already accustomed to the climate and my thick skin from enduring cold sub zero tempature in Michigan was over. I had officially become an Arizonian. I was still feeling blue that I couldn’t see my family. My family is a large Mexican-Filipino family. Think “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” (movie) but a filipino and mexican version. Normally our family hosts a giant Thanksgiving with so many of my favorite dishes ranging from lumpia (Filipino “egg” rolls) and pancit (Filipino spaghetti) as well as empanadas (Mexican pastries filled with meat and vegetables.) Although I didn’t get to have a big family Thanksgiving meal, I did see my immediate family in an outdoor seating area and we had a nice meal together.
I started to see the momentum from all of the things that I had created from before and realized that I wanted to continue making more digital products.
Resources I invested in:
The Email Closer – I found that I had so many emails to write out to start bringing attention to my salespages and offerings. I wanted something quick and painless to help me craft the words to share about my products without feeling super salesy. Dani’s course was a great quick win for me. Since then, I’ve created so many additional emails and have been able to craft more unique messaging around what I have to say and share all without feeling guilty about it. I love her integrity and find that her emails are really something I look forward to in my inbox.
Tripwire Training – Although I had already created a tripwire in the past for my digital products, I wanted to see the unique take on tripwires that Lizzy had. So I decided to invest in the Tripwire Training. I found that I was able to quickly optimize my existing tripwire for my Digital Product Toolkit and was featured on Lizzy’s website and blog post. Several people signed up for my free resources and went on to buy a few other items from me.
Blog Posts Created:
My Easy Sales Webinar Checklist
5 Mindset Shifts to Sell Your Course with a Webinar
How to Prepare for Black Friday as a Course Creator

Digital Products Created:
Wondrous Webinars
Collaborations participated:
I spoke at Vidfest about Systematic Funnels and shared with people about how to create more digital product income using funnels. I met some amazing speakers there and the community that Chris has created is really quite amazing. I was so enthused about speaking there that I’ll definitely apply again to speak!
I participated in a Black Friday Bundle with Vanessa along with multiple other digital product creators. It was definitely a big learning experience for me since I was also simultaneously selling my Black Friday Boost for courses and templates. I wished that I had decided to only sell one thing during Black Friday instead of lots of different things. Oh well! Lesson learned.

December 2020
Oh my gosh, I’ve already rambled on so long. I’m not even sure if you’re still reading this blog post. December was the highest digital product income I had ever made in one month. In previous months nearly 80-95% of my income was actively selling services or some sort of consulting. In December, about 80% of my income came from digital product sales. I was so proud of the progress I made that I was finally headed on the path I wanted to create instead of charging on with a plan for a lifestyle I didn’t care about.
Collaborations:
I collaborated with Danielle Desir, founder of WOCPodcasters and we created the Podcast Planner. We also worked together on creating a masterclass, multiple templates and resources for the planner, as well as answering Q & A session live! We had so many people sign up in under a 24 hour period, my inbox was flooded was sales notifications. I honestly thought I would have made only a few hundred dollars when the product went crazy and I realized that having really clear directions was really important. Also I realized that having a low ticket product doens’t mean you won’t get paid big bucks for sales!
I also participated in Lizzy’s Christmas Goody Bag which was an entirely experimental bundle which included a free goody bag as well as a premium goody bag. I contributed to both bundles and I had over 1,000 people sign-up! People then went on to grab other digital products, courses, and items from me during that week and I realized quickly that I needed to tweak a few things so I could make my systems even better for new customers at scale.
Blog Posts Created:
How Claudia Makes Passive Income Selling Digital Templates
How to Make a High Impact Course with Kelsa Dickey
How to Plan your Course Launch in 2021

Lessons Learned:
Overall the lessons that I learned from 2020 helped me to see things differently about growth and having an online business.
Never plan on things being 100% immune to crap hitting the fan. Things won’t always go as you plan.
Your life, family, and mental health are so much more important than your business.
It’s okay to say no to things you don’t want in your life, even if it doesn’t fit the mainstream way of doing/running things in your business or persona life.
I think 2020 was a trying year for so many people. I’m fortunate that I’ve been able to learn alongside you and growth with you. Let’s take 2021 on with hope and a supportive community.
How to Plan Your Course Launch in 2021

In this episode, I talk about my course creation planning process. I discuss the ADDIE Method, SAM Method, and my own unique take on how to plan and launch digital products and courses. Over the past year my team and I have created over 25 courses and my own brand developed 7 digital products and courses. I share my unique strategy about how to analyze your offers, complete market research, and design your first beta program.

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor

Table of Contents

Online Course Creation Timeline

Coming from a corporate training and education background I’ve learned so much about different ways to handle planning and developing online courses. I’m going to share with you three different ways you could approach your course creation timeline based on my experience whether you are an experienced online business owner that leads a team or a solo based business owner. Your course creation timeline will increase in scope and length based on the complexity of your online course.

Using the ADDIE Method

In this method your focus is to analyze, design, develop, and implement on the course curriculum in a very linear fashion. Your timeline would be approached in steps. This works very well in a production line. Think of this as building a Model T Ford in a factory. If you want to create courses at scale that are complex and very in-depth, this method works well.

ADDIE Method

Using the SAM Method

In the SAM method, short for the “Successive Approximation Method”, the focus is about getting your minimum viable product out quickly. Feedback is implemented quickly based on swift development in direct response from subject matter experts as well as from your end user. In this process, the development is much more cyclical instead of linear. I find that I favor this approach for small business owners looking to develop their digital products quickly that don’t have a large team. There are generally three stages: Analyze, Design, and Develop. You’ll often create multiple iterations of a product based on feedback instead of waiting at the end of a project to get customer and subject matter expert feedback.

My Course Creation Timeline

When I create my course creation timeline, I have a slightly modified process of the ADDIE Method borrowing from the rapid prototyping process. This process involves aspects of analyzing, planning, designing, and development borrowing concepts of pre-selling your programs through a beta testing process. When you are first creating your online course you’ll need to analyze the market. Research your ideal clients and decide on which course platform and tech you’ll need to set everything up. Define and refine your course outline and then design and develop your minimum viable product by preselling your program using social media, email marketing, affiliate marketing and more. I personally recommend launching your offer organically to your audience first before investing in paid advertisements like Facebook ads. This method allows you to refine and hone in on making your courses better over time. Launching your offers through a second or third iteration, you can increase your prices since you’ve added additional curriculum that will support the overall student’s goals and experience.

Course Planning Timeline Example

If you are launching your first, second, or third course having a plan is important. I’m going to give you an example of what it looks like to have a plan in place for your course launch.

Create a Content Marketing Plan

In your content marketing plan, you can create easy bite-sized tips or strategies using social media and repurpose this content in emails, captions, videos, Facebook lives, Clubhouse rooms and so much more! Plan to have a variety of free resources related to your course content, group coaching program, or services.

Develop Affiliate Marketing Content

As a solo-based business owner or an organization affiliate marketing is still a viable way to grow your audience and income without having to invest in Facebook ads. Some important information that you’ll need will include payout dates, launch dates, pricing information, email marketing swipe files, course descriptions and easy access to social media graphics. Before you decide to launch with affiliates, you’ll need to create easy promotional materials for your affiliate to use.

Setting Deadlines for your Course Launch

To plan out your quarterly launches, you’ll need to identify the deadlines for your launch, then plan backwards for what content needs to be developed for your promotional materials. I recommend that you only offer one course or program at a time. If people are overwhelmed I find people will be less inclined to may a purchase due to decision overwhelm.

The Course Consultant Resources:

Do you need step by step support and help organizing your ideas and packaging courses and selling your online course?
Join the latest trainings and resources inside of The Business of Courses Membership!