I’ll never forget the first time I created a course.
At that time in my business, I was burnt out with a capital B and knew that both myself and my health couldn’t sustain the rate at which I was working.
A course was going to allow me to package all my knowledge in a way that could sell, time and time again. Yay!
All I had to do was commit to the creation and launch of it. Which I did… 100%
I spent $1k on a course about webinars, another few hundred in the tech that was recommended as a “must have” for my business, $3k in ads since I was switching niches and had no list and two months of my life to prepping, creating and live launching my course.
Now, this should be where I tell you I then earned ALL that money back, and then some.
Except, I didn’t.
In fact, I made $0 on that first launch.
That’s right, goose egg sales.
I tried a few months later and got one sale of $997.
Which would have been exciting if it wasn’t a GROUP course.
After the tears and three days of wallowing that followed, this left me with only one thing. A choice.
Throw in the towel or try again.
Despite the days of tears I had just had and the overall feelings of failure that I couldn’t seem to shake, I made the decision to not only try again but to try it again… differently.
For the next 30 days, I put my blinders on to every “guru” strategy online and listened to only two things: my audience and my gut.
The result was a 4 lesson mini course that brought in $50k.
Yes, from a mini course.
It was also a turning point for both myself and my business as I now knew there was no going back to the way I once worked.
Courses gave me the ability to reclaim my freedom, without sacrificing the kind of impact I wanted to make on the world.
And since that time in 2015, they have grown and scaled into multiple six-figure revenue streams in my business.
Needless to say, I’ve both experienced and seen a lot in these past five years, which means that I can see the common trends, missteps and general funny moments that can happen to us all.
With that said, let’s get into the top five!
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1: Your Mindset Has More to Do With Your Success than Your Strategy
Look, I’m a strategist and I love a great strategy. In fact, I pride myself on being able to align the right strategy to your specific personality, lifestyle and goals.
However, if you don’t believe that courses can work for your business because….
“I’m not techy enough.”
“There’s already a lot of courses in my industry.”
“I’m not as big as so and so.”
“I offered it once and it didn’t go as planned so it’s not for me.”
“I have to have a huge audience to make this work.”
Guess what you’re going to create?
Exactly what you believe.
All leading to lackluster results (at best)…. no matter what strategy you’re using.
This is why I always check in with myself to see where my mindset and energy is at before I create and/or sell.
To make my work work for me, it starts with me working for me.
2: The Certainty You Seek Comes From the Transaction
Anyone can (and will) tell you that they want your course.
On your market research form.
On your social posts.
On your calls.
How do you know they actually want it? They pay for it.
This is why I am a big believer in pre-selling your course before you create it, like I teach you how to successfully do in the Presell + Profit Method.
When you know you have sales upfront, you not only remove the fear of having a course no one buys but also hold yourself accountable to creating it as you would never be someone who doesn’t deliver, once someone has paid.
It’s a win for all.
However, most people either:
1) Still allow perfection and fear to take over and insist on creating everything, before selling their course. This leads to months or years of courses being an idea vs a consistent revenue stream in their business.
2) Aren’t aware that this option was available (aka me in my very first launch).
Don’t let that be you.
3: The Name of The Game is Transformation, not Perfection
When it comes to creating profitable courses, it comes down to one thing… transformation.
Is your course creating a transformation for your audience? And is it clear to them what that transformation is?
If so, THAT is your ticket to success.
NOT the amount of lessons, the perfectly edited videos, the best designed workbooks or the “right” course platform.
The transformation.
Without that, you’re essentially throwing glitter on a freshly cooked plate of liver and expecting it to look appetizing… and that’s not helpful for us or those we serve.
If you need to deliver your course via live streams in a private FB group, do it.
If you need to skip the follow up sequence the first time around so you can focus on content, do it.
If you need to test out a certain platform for the first round to see if it’s a fit, do it.
Because all your audience truly cares about is if they are getting the transformation (result) they want.
The rest is extra that is necessary when you are first getting your course off the ground. Instead, you can grow into it as you continue to grow and scale.
Progress over perfection, always.
4: Promotion is Not Passive
Many people I work with are looking for a more “passive” style of course, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
If you have quite a bit of high-touch offers in your business already or simply live a lifestyle where high-touch offers aren’t a fit, you’re looking for a passive option to help scale your income, without the same time for money trade off.
However, you are still responsible for driving traffic to that offer.
No matter what the course it is, building your visibility and your credibility as a business owner is not optional if you want that offer to continue to sell.
You can do this by paying in time (organic traffic), money (paid traffic) or a mix of both.
The great thing about this is that you don’t have to do #allthethings in order to get your course in front of more people. However, you do need to be consistent in the path you DO choose.
5: Most Give Up Before It Gets Good Because They’ve Overcomplicated It
I want you to think back to when you were first taking on 1:1/DFY clients.
What did you have to do?
I’m going to guess that you had to test out different messaging, tweak your packages, refine your discovery call process and probably a whole list of other things as well.
Each time you did, you learned more about your audience and what they’re looking for from you. Right?
The same thing goes for courses.The difference between these two periods in your business is that you now know a lot more than you did when you did before. And all that information is crippling you.
This is why I love the Rule of 5 Ones so much, that I first heard from Clay Collins at Leadpages:
1. One product (your course)
2. One person (who you sell to)
3. One traffic source (where you find your person)
4. One sales mechanism (webinar, challenge, etc.)
5. For one year
If you have been solely, and successfully, working with 1:1 clients for the past year, I bet you found your sweet spot for each area and have been utilizing it.
Courses are the same.
Which Truth Did You Need Today?
Come on over to Instagram and let me know
Ready to expand beyond 1:1 and create unlimited impact, freedom and profits in your business? Click here to join us inside Clients to Courses®!