Melody

Online Courses, Service
My Journey to Five Figure Months and Beyond
- September 19, 2020
Table of Contents

My Journey to 5 Figure Months

I’m trying something a little different this week and share some of my thoughts as I reflect about what’s happened over the last year. I’m a little nervous about sharing this because I’ve never been interested in blog income reports. They made me feel heavy and anxious about my results. So please just take this blog post as a reflection about my journey and an encouragement! If I can do this, you can absolutely do this too! So here’s where my last few months or year has taken me.

Shift from Corporate

In July 2019, I quit my full-time job in Corporate Training and Development. At the time, I was working as a full-time Instructional Designer, attending an online Master’s Degree program, and oh yea…moving to an entirely new city and renovating our home to sell. All throughout 2019, I had been working on an entirely different business model which I no longer operate.
You can see my cubicle in my picture. Even though I’m smiling here, it really wasn’t a good fit for me.

With the impending move and my passion for having an online business, my interests had shifted. It no longer felt right to sit at my desk stuck in a literal cubicle, hoping one day I could actually be a full-time business owner. I wanted to be free and excited to work in my business. I had big FAT imposter syndrome because my dreams seemed bigger than my income.
Business Income: $145.04

Pivot to Freelance

Fast forward to August, 2019. Once I made a strategic change to work full-time on my business, I had to take a big mental shift from “employee” to business owner. At this point, I had already invested in a business coach to help me understand how to create more income through digital marketing. Even still. It felt strange at the time to say, “I’m an online business owner.” I actually felt awkward telling people what I did for a living because I truthfully didn’t feel confident saying what I did. I honestly didn’t know what to call myself. Freelancer? Consultant? Coach? Podcaster? Youtuber? Blogger? It seemed like each phrase had some sort of story behind it, none of which felt like fit me and my personality.
Business Income: $717.52

September 2019. During this month, I felt like I was right on the verge of understanding this whole “online marketing thing.” I started showing up more consistently on social media and blogging more consistently. I had a few coaching clients and I was making a few hundred dollars, but nothing really substantial. I was just starting my podcast (totally different from the one I run now) and also blogging as much as possible. My spouse and I were very fortunate because we had saved consistently while I was working full time. I had the opportunity to create more income while also having a safety net. I’m incredibly grateful and realize that this comes with a sense of privilege because not everyone has the ability to save funds each month or a partner that can help support them.
That same month, I attended an event called FinCon in Washington D.C. and I met some of my closest online friends. Many of which I’ve worked with personally and paid to help me run my business! I also invested in a monthly membership with live streaming trainings and a mastermind. To this day, I still am connected with many of the ladies I met! During that time I started to get questions about making online courses. I realized this was something I was interested in helping people develop, especially because of my degree in Instructional Design. I felt like I was on the verge of something exciting and magical.
Business Income: $238.00

Growing With Freelancing

During this phase, I started actively seeing income growth with freelancing. Building off of my network as well as identifying freelancing opporunities through Upwork and other platforms, I was able to get enough income to start feeling like I was making progress. Sloooooow progress, but still progress.
I started recognizing my strengths and leaned into them through my specialty of Instructional Design and Technology while supporting people in their online course creation.

Things were starting to click into place and I realized that I needed to make a strategic shift. So….I shifted BIG time. I created an entirely new website from scratch with a new domain. I planned on developing a new podcast, new social media handles, and entirely new branding. I knew this was an investment that would pay off and it absolutely did – over time. I was in serious hustle mode! Check out my funny and totally serious face!
During this time, I was developing a mastermind for my other business to see if that might be interesting. I was also workshopping the idea of me creating a course as part of my Instructional Design Master’s Program. I was also trying to keep my dog Layla happy. You can see she’s such a sweetheart sitting on my lap while I tried to figure this stuff out.
October Business Income: $1,072
November-December Income: $1,977.47

Between January and March, I dedicated myself to really working on my marketing, outreach, and networking. I also focused on my freelancing which at this point had grown to a somewhat more liveable wage. In March, I attended Social Media Marketing World and met some lovely people there. I volunteered and to this day still am connected with amazing people.
January, my spouse and I started talking about potentially moving -YET again so he could explore other career opportunities. You can see why traditional employment was tricky for both he and I. When we were constantly moving, it felt frustrating trying to figure out my employment while also feeling excited about the work I could accomplish. Most weekends we spent commuting between our old house that we were renovating and our new house ( a hefty three hour drive).
At this point, my Master’s Degree was nearing its final stages and I began to put my ideas together into a course while also freelancing full time. In February, we had finally sold our house. YAY! No more commuting!As you can imagine, I was quite busy, but I was finally nearing replacing my full-time income and was averaging a little over $2,300 a month. I then started sharing that I was creating online courses for others and leaning into my specialty in understanding platforms like Teachable, Thinkific, and email integrations with Mailchimp and Mailerlite. I also started receiving a Top Rated Upwork status based on my high ratings which led me to receive higher visibility with clients.
January – March 2020 Income: $7,088.77

Shift to Agency

This. is me eating a grilled cheese sandwhich in one of my favorite little shop areas in Ontario, Canada. We love traveling and that was a big perk of working from home. Anyhow, I digress.
In March 2020, things got really busy in my business. At this point, I started slowly moving off of Upwork as a main source of traffic because I was starting to get more website traffic organically and people started to book my services straight from my website. I was spending a ton of nights working until early in the morning or late at night. Things started feeling really heavy. I wasn’t sure if I could sustain all of my services, but I didn’t want to let the quality of my services go down.

Between April to May 2020, I became even busier. I transitioned away from all of my freelance writing assignments and focused solely on my tech specialty which was course development and curriculum design and email marketing integration. I started to enlist help and hired my first official Virtual Assistant. I finished my Master’s Degree. And oh yea, COVID happened in March… so I was stuck inside. I started to see the value in hiring others. I invested heavily in coaching while I developed my second digital course, this time a much smaller digital product price! I started seeing more recurring revenue in my business and started to actively work to see growth in my small but mighty email list.
April – May 2020 Business Income – $16,441

Scaling and Beyond

At the end of May 2020, we were moving – YET AGAIN! We then started a transition to move to an entirely new state. June was an incredibly busy month and my spouse was starting a new position and had to attend training while we both looked for a new place to live with COVID restrictions.
By June, I started mapping out which people I needed to hire and started with some family. I realized quickly that I needed a better way to process and organize files, receive feedback, and generally have my business run more smoothly. I spoke at the Creatress Summit!

In July 2020, I enrolled in my first group coaching program to help see more growth in my agency and help me make the transition from a solo entrepreneur to a larger team. I started to get parts of my business organized more than I ever had before. My coach and I worked closely on identifying people to hire to help me deliver on services without sacrificing quality and delivery. I wrote about training remote teams here. I started to see things get easier over time once my team was hired and I invested in training them. I shared about my experience with podcast pitch decks as a guest speaker at Podthon.
I created my third digital product Profitable Presentation Canva pack, a presentation pack for solo based business owners and dipped my toe into affiliate marketing and started making more passive income sales on a recurring basis. I started doing more coaching and consulting work rather than only customized services. I raised my prices and started creating a standard “package” from which potential clients could review and work with me.

In August 2020, I enrolled in multiple online digital courses, invested heavily in templates, resources, and memberships. I spoke at the JBrand Summit. I then launched my fourth (technically fifth?) digital product Systematic Funnels Workshop, helping people see the steps in which to set up your digital product from start to finish including automating email sequences, creating salespage cart integrations, as well as integrating course curriculum into a course platform.
At this stage, I’ve now exceeded my monthly corporate income. I’ve handled large scale projects, developed multiple digital products, as well as managed a team of between 5-10 people. I started feeling much better at marketing my digital courses. I started to feel that between courses, coaching, and services I’d finally found a way to have a “good rhythm” in my business. I felt less heavy because I had a team behind me. It felt good to see money in my bank account.
June – August 2020 Business Income: $24,727.38.
Running 2020 Total: $48,257.04 (not too shabby for a relatively new brand during a Pandemic!)
Lessons Learned

For some of you reading this, the numbers described above might seem out of reach. For many more experienced entrepreneurs, you’ll know that this is just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve learned a ton over the last few months / years running an online business. I’m incredibly proud of the small business I’ve grown into an agency. And from my experience I’d like to share some valuable lessons I’ve learned.
Every time I’ve invested in mentorships and courses (and taken action), I’ve seen an increase in revenue the following month.
I wish I had started making digital products sooner.
I wish I had charged higher rates sooner.
I wish that I had been more selective with the projects I’d taken on and the people I worked with.
I wish I set more firm and clear boundaries on projects sooner.
Everything takes time to build. It’s important to celebrate the small wins and big ones alike.
Community is everything. Having a supportive community of friends to keep you motivated while running an online business is important.
Making large amounts of money isn’t important if you aren’t happy.
Family is more important than business.

As you can see, there are many paths to making money in an online business and none of it comes overnight. Growth happens when you have a combination of tools, resources, time, effort, and support. Oh yes, having a strategy in an online business is incredibly important as well. I believe that you can have a business you feel happy to run. I believe you can feel good about the state of your business. I believe that there’s not a single “way” to make money online. You are completely in charge of what you give to the world. Expect great things to happen for you. Believe that your dreams can become reality. Early in my business I thought earning $500 was signficant. Then, I felt that $1,000 and then $10,000 and $50,000 was a significant amount. Now, my goal is to reach $100,000 and beyond. That’s it for my rant. I hope this inspires you to see that making money online is a process. If you’re open to learning, investing in the knowledge and training, you can achieve BIG, beautiful goals.
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Online Courses, Podcast
Creating Effective Video Training
- September 10, 2020
Welcome to the course consultant show. I am so excited today to talk about today’s topic. Today, we’re going to be talking about how to create effective video training online, how to stay on budget, how to use the best tools, and how to actually get all of those specific topics pulled together in a clear and concise video. So thank you so much for joining me. I’m going to go ahead and dive into today’s topics.
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor

Table of Contents

How to make a good video tutorial

First of all, when it comes to online training and courses, a lot of people find that they prefer videos. Give me a thumbs up if you like watching videos when you’re watching online courses. Hopefully you agree. So for me, when I actually create online courses for my clients, I typically try to vary the types of what I refer to as deliverables. But when it comes to, if you were to create your own online training, I would actually start first by thinking about what are the key learning objectives that you want your students to understand and accomplish.

Start with the end result

And so when you’re thinking about how to allow your students to learn, you have to start first with the end result. Let’s take, for example, one of my students who was trying to actually allow her students to learn how to write a manuscript for a novel. Well, of course the end result is for students to write a novel. But if somebody is just starting out and they’re completely brand new to the concept of writing a novel, they probably first need to know some basics. Right? So again, in that second step, we’re going to think about what that end result is.
Thinking now to the third step, you’re going to work backwards from that, by writing out what small lessons the student will need to be able to understand. So again, going back to that explanation that I shared with you, when somebody is trying to learn, they really need you to break down the steps into small incremental lessons.

Go Back to Basics

So, if I were to take, for example, writing this script, I would probably start first on the actual steps of understanding what’s incorporated into a story. So going back to your basics in English, when you’re in English class, you’re going to talk about the beginning, the introduction. You’re going to talk about setting the scene. You’re going to have to talk about the climax and the conclusion. And of course all the little bits and pieces as you go up into the climax and descending down into the conclusion. So without getting too fancy, it’s pretty simple if you were to write this out. What you would do is you would actually start first with the end result, work backwards and write out each small step.
I always try to describe this in the sense that if you were to create a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and you did not know how. What was the first step that you would do? Well, first of all, you would need to have two pieces of bread. Then you need to have your ingredients, your peanut butter and your jelly. Then you would need to get your knife, your butter knife, and just simply, go ahead and spread out the peanut butter and jelly.

Abstract Concepts

So I think when you think about actually breaking down those lessons and breaking down the video, you’ll be able to actually clearly communicate to your student what exactly is needed. Now often, this is the case when you’re talking about abstract concepts. It’s also very important to have some sort of supplemental activity.
Like let’s say, for example, you’re speaking about leadership development. Well, that’s a very abstract concept. So you need some way for students to be able to understand and comprehend this. So using some supplemental learning activities, along with your videos are actually going to really help to reinforce learning. One of my clients, Andrea Pavia, she did a great job in her Instagram Marketing Academy class, where she had supplemental strategy guides and planners, along with her lessons which were video based, that allowed students to actually comprehend the lessons as they were going through developing their own Instagram marketing strategy.

Video Recording

Now let’s take, for example, the next step and that is what is it that you need to record. So for example, if you were to take a video, you have probably two examples. You’d have one, the video example of actually using a screen recording software. And some people prefer to do a talking head, which is simply one person talking straight to the screen, much as what I’m doing right now. And so if you think about those options, those are really a great starting point. You can get really, really fancy and do even some animated video or even hire a videographer to put your videos together. When you start to get into that stage, it’s definitely time to outsource to a professional like me or somebody who is more experienced with those video editing softwares. And so those kinds of exciting new ventures are absolutely fantastic. But for most of us who really want to actually put something together really fast and don’t want to hire a team, or maybe they’re not prepared to hire a team yet. You can still do it on a budget by simply using the right tools. And what tools am I referring to?

The Right Tools

So, first of all, you would want to start with tools that are going to lend itself to the type of video training that you need. So again, if we’re talking about doing a simple screen share, your video lesson mostly is probably going to be comprised of a PowerPoint. I had one of my clients ask me, which is better for the learner video screen share, seeing my face, or having an animated video? Well, the answer is, it all depends on your learner and what their preferences are. And to be honest, as long as the content is engaging, it really doesn’t matter how the information is presented as long as it meets the overall lesson objectives.

Screen Recording Software

So let’s take, for example, video screen sharing software, which is probably one of the most common ways to share video and virtual training, especially when it’s held online within a webinar or within a recorded video. That is going to be the simplest way to go about it on a budget. And so what I recommend in terms of screen recording software, I recommend using a few different tools. I’ve used these myself and I’ve recommended that other people use them as well.
Affordable
So on the first scale you have your free tools and that would be obviously Loom. Loom is one of my preferred, easy to use recording software. It allows you to record your screen, record your face, and once you get into the pro version, you’ll also be able to draw on actual screens, which is actually a really great tool to have. The second tools that I recommend to my clients are two options. One is a Google Chrome extension called Screencastify, and this is a really great tool. It does have a free version, but it exports with the little branded icon on the bottom right. So I don’t recommend that if you’re trying to sell your recordings on a course, I recommend upgrading. And the second option is also Screencast-O-Matic.
So Screencastify and Screencast-O-Matic are very similar names, but they function very, very similar as well and they’re pretty affordable if you look at the annual or monthly plan. The annual plan I believe for Screencast-O-Matic is about $20, so it’s definitely worth it. I personally love using Screencast-O-Matic because it allows me to edit the audio and separate the tracks between video and audio. It also allows me to do some other editing as well, including allowing me to export the files in mp4, add text transcriptions using their text transcription software. It also allows me to edit and cut scenes, which allows me to cut and paste. And it also allows me to do lots of other cool things, such as adding text, allowing me to add popups. You can get very advanced in this very simple to use software and trust me, it can be very expensive, purchasing, much higher end video editing software.
Higher End
So let’s take, for example, if you were a video editor and let’s say that you are somebody who is experienced in that. What would you actually need to actually get prepared to share your videos online? So if you are more experienced, you might want to consider using a video editing software, and that could include final cut pro is a common one. You also have some Adobe products that are pretty, more expensive, but they do provide a higher quality of output. And that would be including how to use Camtasia. You can use also another video editing software, that I used for animated videos, which is called Vyond. Now I do recommend and Vyond is really more for corporate or business to business type of online training. So that certainly is a great one to check out in case you are wondering.

Video Editing Software

So, when it comes to your video editing software, you need to determine what is going to be recorded. So again, prepare your slides in advance if you’re doing a screen capture. Two, if you’re outsourcing or you’re doing more advanced video editing, you’ll need to actually determine if you need a voiceover script. A lot of people ask me, do I need a voiceover script or do I not need a voiceover script? The answer is again, it’s dependent on your comfort level. I recommend having a voiceover script if you’re recording your screens via SlideShares. So if you’re actually recording slides, I recommend that you actually record and have a voiceover script and your voiceover script is really gonna help you read out exactly what you wanted to portray to your students. And this is really one of the biggest pro tips that I would recommend when you’re actually recording your videos, if you’re doing any specific type of training and it requires that you share your screen and you’re doing slides. I recommend actually preparing the slides in advance and ensuring that you have a voiceover script.
Okay, here’s the second option. If you do not want to share your screens and you want to share your face, I recommend not having a script, but just having bullet points. So have something around you that’s going to be able to be easily read and not shuffling around with your papers or looking over and awkwardly trying to recite something or memorize something. Why? Because it’s going to feel forced. It’s going to feel unnatural and you’re going to feel uncomfortable when you’re onscreen. Unless you’re a broadcaster or someone who has acting experience or performance experience in the past.
The thing that I want to also encourage you to consider is to also practice in advance. Practice makes progress. So what I mean to say when you practice recording your screens and recording your face, sometimes you’re going to make mistakes and you might lose an entire few hours, just reciting and rerecording. So save yourself the hassle before you press record by practicing what you are going to say. Do it one to two times, maybe even three times. And then when you’re ready, press record. It can be very, very overwhelming to try and record so many different scenes and try to get it perfect all at once. You are not going to get it perfect all at once. And that’s the beauty of understanding where your progress comes in. You are not going to be perfect. You have to give yourself space to breathe, to relax, to lean into this new role as a course creator. So I’m very excited to share with you these tips. I do want to share with you a few other tips regarding recording video, and that’s the importance of quality audio.

How to Record Quality Audio

How many of you guys have ever watched a video and the audio quality was terrible? I have. I definitely have, and I will tell you, it is not been fun to listen to. I immediately want to X out and skip to something that has a much better audio quality. So here’s what I recommend.
I recommend when recording audio to have a quality microphone. Now it doesn’t have to be very expensive. It just has to be accurately portraying your voice. You don’t want to be too quiet. You don’t want to be too loud. What you want is clear, crisp audio with minimal background noise. So how do you get great audio quality? Well, the first thing that you need to do is you need to make sure that you have the right microphone.

Microphones

I recommend two microphones that I’ve used that are very much underneath $100. The first audio microphone that I recommend is the blue snowball, Yeti. This Snowball Yeti is normally under $50 and allows you to easily record with a USB interface from your laptop or desktop computer. It also allows you to export and save the files as MP3. And if you need to use it in a wav format, you can also do that as well.
Another thing that I would also recommend using, if you’re interested in purchasing a higher quality audio, I would consider using the ATR USB 2100 or one of their affiliated types of microphones. I use the ATR microphone it’s a USB interface with my computer and it allows me to record my audio. I can do it for my zoom sessions. It’s really easy to use. My microphone when I purchased it, comes with this very small stand. And what you want to do again is once you do have your microphone, you should place that microphone in a consistent space between your mouth and the microphone.

Consistent Setup/Spacing

Why is that important? Why does it matter? Well, here’s the reason why, when you were recording in different sessions, let’s say that you sit down to record and you record about five videos, and then the next day you record five videos again. If your microphone is a different distance from your mouth to the microphone, you’re gonna notice a difference in sound level. Why? Because the distance between your mouth and the microphone is going to be at a different distance. Right? So if you’re closer to the microphone, you’re going to get one sound. If you’re farther away from the microphone, you’re going to get a different sound. And if you were to listen to playing it back, you might notice between one video to the next video that the voice level is actually different.
Now, does it really matter? I guess it doesn’t really matter if it’s very nominal and you can’t hear the difference. But once you start charging $2000, $4000 or $5000 for a course, that’s when it does matter. You really should make sure that you have accurate distance between your mouth and the microphone when you’re recording your video. So how do you make sure that the distance is the same each consistent time that you are recording?
Well, first of all, what you need to do is actually ensure that you have either a stand or a microphone boom arm. A boom arm is essentially a metal frame, I guess, it allows you to actually hook up your microphone to the arm and allows it to be either clamped on your desk, or sometimes it will be able to clamp to any other type of surface so that it will be consistently in one area between your mouth and the microphone. Another thing to do is consider purchasing a stand. You can normally purchase a stand as an accessory on Amazon. They’re pretty affordable there.
When you’re doing the podcast recording, what you want to do is, again three, the third thing you want to do is actually ensure that the background noise levels are down. So, what do I mean by background noise? I mean, if your dog is out there hanging out with you, you might want to actually make sure that the dog is in a different room. If you have young children in the background, or if you even have the AC on, the noise in the background can be very, very distracting. And so what you want to do is you want to make sure you’re in a very quiet setting in the room. Make sure if you have family members or anyone else present in the house, you ensure and communicate that they need to keep their voices down, especially when it comes to your recording time.
It’s very hard. I know, especially if you’re working from home to ensure that you have quality audio, but trust me, when you actually play back the audio, you want it to sound crisp, clear and professional. And to do that, you need to make sure you have all the equipment together. You have prepared what you were going to say, and you will also practice beforehand.
So keeping all of that in mind, I know that there’s so much that goes into recording videos. I want to also share with you that it is important to know that it’s fine if you make a mistake. It’s fine if you’re still working on this on your own and you make a few videos and it really didn’t go according to plan.

Ask For Feedback

What you want to do is ask for feedback. It’s so important to ask for feedback when you’re writing your own content. You’ll want to be able to ensure that everything that you’re doing is going to make sure that you have a good sense of what people are interested in listening or learning to. So, once you have everything put together and you’ve asked for feedback and you’ve recorded your screens, then it’s time to host.

Hosting

Once you host everything, you’ll need to make sure that you either set it to private. And it could be hosted either on Vimeo or YouTube, whatever the case may be. You need to make sure that you have an easy way to access it. If you’re using a course platform, such as Thinkific, Podia, or Kajabi, or one of the many other course platforms, you don’t really have to worry about hosting. But if you’re going to be referencing some of these videos periodically, you might want to consider actually hosting it on a third party platform. There’s also another video hosting platform called Wistia, but it’s not as important to consider that if you’re just using a course platform. All right guys there is so much information that I shared with you today.

Leave us a comment below and let us know your biggest takeaway from this episode?
Missed the last episode, check it out here.

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Course Creator, Podcast
Leading on Purpose with Julianna Hynes
- August 6, 2020
We need more women in leadership. In this week’s episode, we discuss how Dr. Julianna Hynes helps other break the glass ceiling in organizations and what it truly means to be a leader.
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor

Table of Contents

Why we need more women leaders

In your career as an entrepreneur, you need to see yourself in the CEO chair. However, it might not be always clear to you to establish your presence as a leader in your organization or small business owner. In this week’s episode with Dr. Julianna Hynes, author of Leading on Purpose and CEO of Julianna Hynes and Associates, we discuss why we need more women leaders, as well as how she developed her recent book.

Obstacles to female leadership

What do you think is the #1 barrier to females in leadership roles? During this portion of the podcast, we discuss how mindsets and limiting belief can hold you back from the next step in your career. When it comes to choosing to become a leader, one must acknowledge that you already are. In this podcast, Julianna also describes her experience working in Silicon Valley as a young, black woman. She describes times when different perspectives and leadership styles weren’t always in alignment. In fact, she recalls that many leaders didn’t know exactly how to help her grow. Julianna also shares the importance of mentorship which is often lacking for many employees in organizations. Yet, thankfully she shares that there are many opportunities for growth and support for employees, especially for women.
In the podcast she shares several simple ways to develop your own unique leadership style.
Ask for feedback from multiple perspectives.
Recognize imposter syndrome.
Choose to step outside of your comfort zone.
Identify and act on your unique point of view as a leader.
Julianna encourages women leaders to lead from their own unique perspective because “when we don’t share our gifts, our point of view, we’re limiting not only something else but someone else”.
Advantages for female leadership

When women lead on purpose, others can thrive in a safe and supportive working environment. It’s essential to consider that a unique perspective is needed in order to change the way in which we conduct business both from a small business and large organization standpoint. Julianna shares much about the challenges facing women in leadership as well as opportunities and advancements in for women at the CEO and Corporate level in her recent book.

Conclusion
If you want to be successful in leadership, here are some key takeaways from this episode.
Celebrate wins (big and small).
Find masterminds and coachings. There is great value in having others provide accountability and encouragement.
Have a diverse group of mentors. Get relatable perspective, as well as a point of view you may not have thought about from someone on the outside looking in.
Thanks for listening to this week’s podcast with Dr. Julianna Hynes. I hope her advice provides motivation for you to take on more leadership roles in your career and entrepreneurial endeavors.
Guest Resources

Here’s where you can find more on Dr. Julianna Hynes and Associates as well as find useful information regarding her latest book.
http://www.juliannahynes.com/
Leading on Purpose: The Black Woman’s Guide to Shattering The Glass Ceiling: https://www.amazon.com/Leading-Purpose-Womans-Shattering-Ceiling-ebook/dp/B088Q1WXPN

The Course Consultant Resources

Is tech holding you back from making money in your business? Ready to learn the funnels you can put in place to make earning simple and easy for your customers?
Join me in our live training (Friday, August 14th) on Systematic Funnels. Catch it now before the price increases in the future. The replay will be available if you can’t attend live.

Leave us a comment below and let us know your biggest takeaway from this episode?
Missed the last episode, check it out here.
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Marketing, Podcast
Content Planning Workshop Tips with Pete McPherson
- July 17, 2020
Let’s talk about content. Is it really king? I always tell my high ticket clients to have great online content to attract people to their digital products and/or services. In this week’s episode, I chat all things content, including marketing, with founder of Do You Even Blog, Pete McPherson. Listen below or check out the show notes to see where you’d like to start.
Pete has been blogging for 10 years, interviews top bloggers, entrepreneurs and creators and has made several courses, digital products and a membership group. Plus, if you actually check out podcast episode number three on web design tips, you’ll see that I have interviewed him in the past but I’m so excited to talk to Pete today about learning how to create valuable content.

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor

Table of Contents

Why Content Marketing Matters

Pete was super excited to discuss content with me. So much so that it took us less than 3 minutes to jump right into his massive AirTable content planning list where he keeps all his content ideas. Check out the video.
The overall takeaway that he wants you to grasp, is to create a system or workflow to create content quickly by having one place where you store all your content, including ideas for future content. Airtable, Google Sheets, a notebook, use whatever works best for you.

Why Content Marketing Matters for Small Business
Trying to figure out which content should come next? Here are 3 important questions that Pete recommends you ask as you review your content ideas list.
What’s the search viability?
Is this on brand? Do I have a unique take on this subject?
Am I motivated to create this?
Content Marketing Strategy
Pete recommends spending 5 minutes answering these questions first:
What is the topic? 2 – 3 words
Who’s it for?
What’s the problem/challenge/pain point?
What’s the solution/answer/end result?
If you think these are gems, make sure you listen as we discuss the remaining content workflow process. Have a blog, podcast, YouTube channel? You should definitely tune in with your notebook. TAKE NOTES!!
Next time catch the podcast live by joining our Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/inspiredcourses
Guest Resources:

Want more content workflow tips from Pete. Sign up for one of his courses.
Podcourse: https://bit.ly/2OndUvA
Free Training on How to Start a Podcast: https://bit.ly/2CDPbAw
*These are affiliate links.

The Course Consultant Resources:

We always have loads of great content over here for you at The Course Consultant!! Why should you miss out? Join us in our free Facebook group and you never have to again!!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/inspiredcourses

Thanks for listening!! Don’t forget to leave a comment and let me know what new content planning ideas you will be implementing. And if you missed, last week’s episode on transformational learning, be sure to catch it here.

Also, if you missed our previous chat with Pete on web design, listen here.
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Course Creator, Podcast
Transformational Learning with Adam Kol
- July 9, 2020
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In this week’s episode, I discuss tranformational learning with Couples Financial Counselor turned course creator, Adam Kohl. Adam worked with the Course Consultant to create his course, Financial Coaches Mindset. We both sat down to discuss his journey and the process involved with creating a transformational course. Take a listen to the podcast below or browse the shownotes to see where you would like to begin.
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor

Table of Contents

About Course Creator, Adam Kol

Adam H. Cole is a couple’s financial counselor who helps couples make sure that their money conversation doesn’t get in the way; leading to more peace, love and cash. Now that’s a business mission I can get behind. His credentials to lead such a mission includes over a decade of experience as a certified mediator, former tax attorney, and financial advisor.
In addition, Adam has a law degree from Duke, a Master’s in tax law from NYU, and has been a seasoned community organizer and lifelong musician. Find his Personal Finance Parodies on YouTube or his podcast, Equal Partners with Adam Kol on his website.

Create Tranformational Learning
Adam and I discuss the key elements required to build an environment of transformational learning. That includes:
being culturally competent,
always thinking about the customer (experience),
and being intentional about diversity and inclusion.
Adam practices this in his business by asking his clients about their experience with financial institutions because he understands that not everyone has had the same experience that he’s had as a white, Jewish boy who grew up in upper middle class. He also proactively makes decisions to ensure that his business and podcast has a diverse network of people. Listen to the podcast for more details on how he intentionally cultivates this environment.
One thing that I love that he asks, that I think all business should answer for themselves is: “How can my business contribute to a more equitable world?”
The Shift: From Coaching to Course Creator

Are you a coach trying to decide if creating a course is your next best step? Listen as Adam discusses when he knew it was the right time to make the shift. HINT: There is no perfect time.

About Adam's Course: Financial Coaches Mastermind
Adam worked with The Course Consultant to create a course that had the following objective for fellow coaches:
to be effective working with clients,
to have effective communication and listening,
and to manage confidence.
As a course creator, it is critical to know the effect that you want your course to have on the people who go through your training. Next, we discussed the perfect recipe (environment) for a successful and profitable course.
Keys to a Successful and Profitable Course
Do you have the right ingredients to create a course that will be profitable and successful? Adam and I discussed, 3 key elements that could lead to your course’s success. Here are three questions that you can ask about your current industry.

Is there a need for this information?

How many product offerings exist today?

What are people struggling with?

Listen to Adam and I discuss what his answers were to these questions when he decided offering a group coaching program was the answer and right solution for his business.
The Course Consultant Experience

During this part of the podcast, Adam and I discussed his experience with The Course Consultant. He began with easy and astute and finished with how I compassionately kept him in line. If those sound like traits that you would want in your course consultant, definitely setup your discovery call soon.
Adam also shared feedback from someone who completed the course and practiced his training in ‘real life’. It’s feedback like this that let’s me know that starting The Course Consultant was the right decision for me.

Course Creation Stages

Finally, we wrapped up with some of the course creation stages that have the biggest impact, including the sales page, copyright, and product marketing.
There are some gem questions that you should ask yourself if you want your course launch to be a success. Check it out on the podcast now, plus find resources below on how you can connect with Adam or the Course Consultant below.

Guest Resources

Connect with Adam on his website or LinkedIn.
Website: https://ahkcoaching.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-h-kol-4bb34a39/
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Online Courses, Podcast
How to Create An Online Membership Site
- July 2, 2020
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Table of Contents

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts

Building an online membership sounds incredibly challenging, but Danielle makes it look easy. Here’s what she tells us about developing a thriving community online. Danielle Desir is an author, speaker, podcaster and the founder of WOC (Women of Color) Podcasters, the first community of its kind dedicated to supporting and amplifying the voices of women of color podcasters. WOC Podcasters has grown to a community of over 3,000 members in 2 years and recently launched a membership site offering mentorship, accountability and a resource library covering a variety of aspects in podcasting.

What to include in a membership site

When it comes to creating an online membership, you’ll need to create a solution for the challenges your ideal customer or client faces. Once you build out a solid sales funnel with your website, you can direct prospective customers or clients to your online digital solutions on a recurring subscription model. Danielle realized that accountability was missing and then created a membership with multiple monthly accountability calls. She also interviews experts and then adds their bonus training material content onto the Thinkific membership portal.

Build a Community

Danielle excels at building communities online. Before starting the WOC Insider’s Membership, she created an online course and Facebook community about being financially savvy and traveling abroad. Building off of this experience Danielle shares that growing an online business is always a work in progress. She recommends preselling a product before one is completely developed to validate your offering before spending a substantial amount of time building out a digital product. Through Facebook groups, Danielle shares valuable free blog posts, videos, and other job opportunities to help support the podcasting process. “I know podcasting can be incredibly lonely at times, so I wanted to support others while they were podcasting,” Desir says.

Thinkific Membership

Danielle hosts all of her membership group content on the Thinkific platform. She uses a private Facebook group for those that pay a monthly subscription fee. Any bonus workshops can be paid for with an all access subscription or purchased individually. If a customer decides to stop or pause their account, access to the private Facebook group is limited. This ensures that the ongoing trainings are kept as a special bonus for those that pay the subscription fees. Desir says that this is to ensure that your solutions are scaleable because providing free content as a business owner still costs money. She also leverages paid and unpaid volunteers to assist with supporting the engagement of the free and paid Facebook group. For example, she has someone post weekly in each group.

Offer Workshops

Desir says that workshops are a great way to provide value in a shorter period of time. She includes her own training sessions recorded from Zoom meetings as well as expert co-led sessions. Subscribers also have access to an ever growing comprehensive library for her audience about growing and monetizing their podcast. She updates this with fresh content and special online training.

Ask for referrals

Desir says that one of the biggest ways that her brand has grown organically is through word of mouth and referrals. Other business journals and news outlets have written about WOC Podcasters and Desir says that sharing about the group on other podcasts has been helpful when it comes to growing an online membership. She says not to get discouraged when you don’t receive an immediate sale. By simply offering and sharing information that is valuable, people will spread the word and choose to purchase a membership if they find that it helps them reach their goal.

Use Discount code: courseconsultant for 25% of any online course / membership:

https://wocpodcasters.thinkific.com/

Conclusion

Creating an online membership takes time and commitment. If you are a small business owner that is ready to take on the next step in your online business with courses, don’t forget to check out our shop!

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Miscellaneous
How Andrea Made Her First Course on Social Media Marketing
- June 24, 2020
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Table of Contents

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts

Andrea is an Online Marketing Strategist who owns and operates AM Creative, a boutique marketing agency located in Wollongong Australia. She started developing her course on Instagram Marketing last year and recently revealed the lessons she learned while developing her Master Course.
Identify Your Ideal Client
Andrea points out that by speaking to everyone, you speak to no one. This is one of the first things she learned while cultivating messages through social media channels in her agency. She also says that to create messages for your ideal client, you must think through the common things that are pain points for your clients or customers in order to show them the value that your business provides. She says that this is actually one of the first activities she includes as a Customer Avatar Worksheet in her Instagram Marketing class. Creating a course can be difficult, but this is something that Andrea worked on before developing her online course curriculum.
Complete Market Research
One of the biggest things she says that other marketing agencies aren’t speaking about is the importance of market research. Andrea discusses how powerful doing a competitor analysis is before creating any digital content for marketing, especially on Instagram. She says many people fall into the bad habit of developing posts simply out of necessity and not being strategic. She states that by setting SMART goals, you’ll be able to create small and large goals for your marketing campaigns that will drive awareness and revenue into your business.
Share Valuable Content
Andrea continues by saying that your Instagram posts should “Educate, Entertain, or Inspire.” By doing behind the scenes videos, documenting a live event, or promoting a digital product or new service or program, you can create a nurturing relationship with your audience and prospective customers. These kinds of posts can help you showcase your authority on a subject or topic and share the success your clients have. Building trust around your digital products is definitely something that is supported through an online marketing campaign.
Quality Isn’t Always Expensive
Andrea says it’s less important to have experience photos to show up on Instagram and more important to show up with your authentic self. She says that many of her photos are taken from her iPhone. She says that if you have the budget to take higher quality photos, that is wonderful but not required to show up online!
Use Strategic Hashtags
Andrea says that niche hashtags are a strategic way to gain more visibility online. Niche hashtags, especially local hashtags, act as an Instagram version of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). She says researching keywords for a list of hashtags that are local or niche based will help you gain visibility when you post photos through the social media channel. Key points: stay away from really popular hashtags that are too broad because posts can get easily lost in a sea of other competitors.
Create a Course Roadmap
Andrea discusses how important it is to create a course roadmap for your course including finding tech, finding course platforms, creating powerpoints, and finding the time. She says that outsourcing to professionals has significantly decreased the amount of time she needed to create her course to help while she runs her business.
Conclusion
Make sure you check out Andrea’s course to learn more about leveraging social media marketing through Instagram in her course Instagram Marketing Academy and use discount code “melody30” to save 30% at checkout. Need some help with putting your course together?
Schedule a free consultation to see if it’s a good fit.

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Podcast
How I Motivate My Team
- June 12, 2020
Table of Contents

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor

One of the things that I first started doing when working as a solo entrepreneur was conducting a lot of tests all on my own. I realized, though, that I wasn’t getting all the things done that I should be focusing more attention on. This also led to the realization that if I wanted to grow, I would need to invest a team to help with tasks that were taking up my time. I put in my own money upfront and took the first step toward building a team: a virtual assistant. I grew from there. Here’s how I motivate my team and continue seeing success across the board.

Understand Your Team Members’ Skills

The first step I take when I hire a new contractor is a needs assessment. I like to work with people who are good at what they do and who will be able to bring value to my business. By learning what their skills are and learning about the needs they have, I’m able to set them up for success from the start. Once I learn what they’re good at, I then compare it to where my needs are.

In the past, I was hired to do things similar to what I hire people for now. During that time, I found that I both loved and excelled at training. Creating materials, coming up with plans, and helping people learn was my jam. That’s why I turned it into my full-time business. But, there’s more that goes into this than just doing that. For that reason, I find contractors who can do the “other” while I focus on training. I hire someone who loves to do each of the other things that I need done and it’s like having an expert working on every aspect of the business. I motivate my team by giving them tasks that closely align with their goals, their values, and their skill sets.

Help Develop Potential

Continue developing talent. Always. When I’m working with contractors, I find out what they’re good at, but I don’t just leave it at that. I share training with them on things that I’m good at, I encourage them to learn more within their own skills, and I give them resources that will help them go farther than they would on their own. I also motivate my team by allowing them to help teach me or the other contractors about their skills. This helps create growth and transformation while also allowing people to keep focusing on what they’re good at. By sharing, it resonates with the type of work that they’re in and helps them reach new levels even outside of their own skills!

Celebrate Wins and Accomplishments

While it may not seem like a “big deal,” celebrating can go a long way. It’s important that your team knows that you’re recognizing their accomplishments. With this recognition, the team member will know that they’re on the right path and should continue doing it.

The benefits of celebrating wins are twofold. When you celebrate openly about a team member’s accomplishments, other team members will see that and will be motivated to work harder and get recognized too! Instead of just focusing on endless new tasks and new jobs for your team members to do, focus on what they’ve done right in the past!

Understand Organizational Needs

What are your needs as an organization and how can you reinforce cultural values? By getting to know your team members and making connections with them on a personal level. Take time to listen to emails and messages, understand their personal lives and what’s going on in them. And, above all understand that they are not only team members but they’re people. I motivate my team by being understanding and treating them like humans instead of worker bees. In turn, they provide me with high-quality work and I get to create lasting relationships with hard workers!

Want an easy way to streamline your business, create online webinar training, and more? You need a comprehensive template to do it and creating your own can be a huge waste of time. My Canva pack is jam-packed with goodies like sales webinar templates, coaching templates, mastermind templates, and even a media kit! It’s one of the tools I use to motivate my team. Grab yours here!

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Podcast
How I Avoid Burnout When Working From Home
- June 5, 2020
Table of Contents

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor

As a course creator, I’ve dealt with a lot of burnout. Not only do I deal with other people experiencing burnout, but I’ve also had to work through a lot of my own burnout. There’s a lot that goes into working from home and I get it. But, I’ve found some amazing tips that will help you avoid burnout when working from home.

Project Management

Running your own business is going to involve a lot of tasks. From marketing to creating deliverables, you’ll have so many things on your plate. Add in freelance work or service-based tasks and you’re bound to forget something or double book yourself. When you’re only handling a few things at one time, a simple spreadsheet can work great, but you’re going to outgrow it eventually. You need a project management tool and having one right out of the gate will allow your business to grow.

One of my favorites is Asana. The tool makes it easy to itemize tasks, create timelines, and assign each of the tasks out. It provides a great visualization of everything that you have going on and what work that’ll require in real-time. Whether you use a tool like Asana, Trello, or any other project manager, seeing the breakdown of tasks can make it easier to avoid burnout when working from home.

Estimate Time Committed

From email management to social media management and even creating content for your website, you need to estimate the amount of time that you need to commit. This will give you a realistic way to plan each day that you’re working from home and give you a goal to work toward while completing the tasks. If you’re repeating tasks over and over again, you must understand how long it’s going to take to complete it. Once you know how long it takes you to complete each task, you’ll be able to determine if it’s worth it to keep doing yourself or if you should delegate the task.

Using a tool like Clockify allows you to not only track projects but also track tasks associated with that project. It will allow you to see how long it’s taking you to do individual projects and how long it’s taking you to do tasks associated with entire larger projects. You’ll also want to do this if you are working on larger projects for clients because it can have a big impact on retainers and fees.

Hire A Great Team

Hiring and training an executive team, especially when working remote, is a great way to make your business run smoother and focus on the things that you need to focus on. If you have a team of people who you can trust and who perform good work for your business, you can avoid burnout when working from home. This will also help make it easier to focus on the things that require your attention instead of doing tasks that can actually be delegated.

Many new entrepreneurs struggle with the idea of hiring a team especially because they like to put their time into the inside workings of their business and want to make sure that things are done right. To ensure that your team is right for your business, you should start building up a great network of people you know personally. If this is not possible, get referrals from other business owners who you trust. Hiring tools like LinkedIn can also be helpful if you don’t have other options.

Once you’ve found a good team, it’s important to make them understand the value of working with you. This includes investing in them professionally with things like tools, courses, and more.

Take Breaks

In a traditional position, your boss will tell you when to take your breaks and will often enforce that you need to take them at certain times, but if you don’t have a boss, it can be difficult to know when and if you need a break. It can be incredibly hard to force yourself to take breaks, but it is crucial to avoid burnout when working from home. Even though I struggle with this, I find that I am more productive and I am able to work from home better when I make myself take a break.

It is important to work hard and be persistent, but working longer hours also means that you need to take a break. The quality of your work can be impacted by burnout so make sure that you’re taking breaks to keep that from happening. Take a walk with your pet, play with your kids, or just step away from the screen for a few minutes and you’ll come back feeling refreshed and ready to tackle more work.

Start Your Day Strong

Even if you’re not a morning person, starting your day strong will impact your work and allow you to feel more accomplished throughout the day. Reading a scripture, meditating, or doing yoga are all excellent ways to start your day out strong. You can also practice mindfulness, go for a peaceful walk, or even do a challenging workout if that’s what gets your blood pumping.

Join a Support Group

If you choose to start with just one tip from this list, this is the one. The rest of the tips will fall into place easier once you’ve found your support group. People need their tribes and as a business owner, you need yours to help avoid burnout when working from home. In traditional positions, you have coworkers to commiserate with, but you don’t get that built-in support when you’re working from home. Find entrepreneurs who are similar to you (YES, even ones you might be inclined to think of as competitors) and built your support group. This will give you a place to vent about your struggles, celebrate your wins, and even do a little bit of collaborating. If you have a strong support group, you’ll be able to draw inspiration and a place to leave your frustration. You’ll be surprised how many others out there are hustling and grinding just like you. You’ll also be surprised that many of these people have gone through the same things as you and even have tips for fixing issues you might be experiencing.

Your support group doesn’t even have to be huge especially in the beginning. Start out with a friend or two then build that up. Don’t just look local, either. There are people just like you all around the country and even around the world. Look for people to be your support team in social media groups, at conventions, and more!

Now that you’ve got the tools to avoid burnout when working from home, it’s time to take the next steps in improving your business. Start streamlining your process so you can get back to running your business. Check out my Canva pack that’s now available. You can use it as a first step toward project management and itemize your tasks into bite-sized chunks!

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Miscellaneous
5 Steps Towards Diversity and Inclusion in The Workplace
- June 2, 2020
Table of Contents

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor

5 Steps Towards Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace

Diversity and inclusion training for the workforce might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of race relationships, but here’s why it’s important. As more and more stories of tragic murders of people like Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Abery begin to surface it calls to question not only the brutality of certain police tactics but of a system of socioeconomic and racial divide amongst the American population that goes beyond simple ties to political agenda or religious affiliation. Employees, contractors, and even customers and clients feel the weight of these significant historical events. Yet, many wonder what is the right action to take as an organization, agency, or even solo entrepreneur? In this blog and podcast, I’m going to outline several training and actionable recommendations you can consider when beginning the conversation about race and culture in the workplace.

Acknowledge Current Events

While it can be easy to disengage with the political climate and news coverage as an organization, it is better to consider the ramifications of not taking any action at all. By acknowleding current events, you take a stand towards change. Send an email blast to your community to express your values, what you plan to do, and how you want others to take action towards change. Allow people to message you directly via email, social media messaging, or via Zoom calls. Many people are hurting right now and it is imperative that an organization takes every measure to allow for honest conversations.

Encourage Conversations

Many people worry that by beginning to speak about topics like race, gender, and even sexuality will cause a ripple effect of larger problems within an organization. However, these concerns are already top of mind for many employees and customers. By refusing to have these critical conversations, not only will the morale of minority groups and individuals within an organization plummet but some may feel inclined to leave and other customers may consider taking their business elsewhere. Encourage managers and other leaders in the organization to provide open communication channels where contractors and employees can voice their concerns both privately and in group settings such as Q & A sessions.

Educate Yourself and Your Team

Diversity and inclusion training is not the complete solution. On an individual level, educate yourself and encourage your team to invest in books and other media about race and privilege in America. If your budget allows, invest in diversity and training initiatives that elevate the stories for people of color and other minority groups that feel comfortable sharing. Do not force people of color or minority members of your organization to fulfill a role of advocate if they do not feel comfortable doing so. Understand that bringing up traumatic personal experiences related to racism is painful for many and requiring someone to dig through years of systematic oppression to cater to my feeling of guilt is wrong. I feel that in some ways I may have done this in the past, and for that I apologize to my error. For those that are willing to share their experiences and stories, allow them to do so and expres your support.

Create a Plan Of Support

Continue to cultivate a culture of support and inclusivity. Qualified leaders from all walks of life, should be represented in your staff. Marketing messaging, images, and values should be communicated to your internal and external partners. Consider your price structure and ask yourself how you can contribute either personally or through your organization to nonprofit organizations making a difference in antiracist efforts and diversity initiatives. Ask for feedback from staff about measures that can be taken to ensure that the workplace is inclusive and an enjoyable place to work. Provide support systems of mentorship and training for employees and contractors that are looking to advance and need guidance.

Resources

Facing Race, Equity, and Diversity in the Coaching Industry

What are Employer’s Responsibilities For Diversity in the Workplace

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