Two big questions for ya, friend. And before you get nervous, I’m making it easy on you! Do you want to make a greater impact? Does something that comes easily to you, or is common sense to you, have the ability help others? And before you think, “Nah, I’ve got nothing!” I want for you to ask yourself: do you know something, have you learned something, or have you created a way to get results in your life or someone else’s and could you use that same knowledge to help more people?
You probably know this, but over 90% of my profits come from online education — teaching others and sharing blueprints to faster results.The simple magic I’ve found in creating courses is that I can take all my know-how and experience and tested knowledge that I’ve applied to my very own business, pack it up into digestible blueprints, and offer it to others to enhance, grow, and scale their biz.
It’s not reinventing the wheel. It’s not researching and learning an encyclopedia of unfamiliar information to teach to others. It’s just taking what ya know, what you’ve learned, or a process you’ve created and creating a curriculum out of it for others who are curious about what you know.
I think it’s easy for entrepreneurs to forget that anything can be learned. Whether it’s creating a course, or managing a team, or baking a perfect soufflé… You have the ability to figure out how to do it, and do it well. So, do you have what it takes to create a digital course? Heck freaking yeah, you do! And here are all the gems you need to know to get started.
Jenna’s tips for creating a digital course:
First you might be wondering if you’re even ready to create a course, if that’s a question you’re having, my business BFF created a fun quiz that takes 60 seconds to help you discover what kind of digital course would be best for you to create (and she’ll even tell ya if you’re not quite ready yet…. honesty is the BEST policy!)
Creating an online course starts with what you know. I’ve done it a few times… five, if we’re counting. So let’s walk through the steps you can take to turn what you know into education for others.
- Results. What impactful results are you currently achieving or able to achieve, if not for others then for yourself? These are the tangible benefits your knowledge, products, or services deliver, and on a regular basis. Maybe it’s a certain number of conversions or a percentage of social media growth. Maybe it’s more perceptive, like emotional support for grieving mothers or a community you created for local artists to mingle. Wherever you’re experiencing growth, improvement, or assistance to others, those are your results.
- Tailor. When you’ve pinned down those results, look at each step and task it took to get there, and tailor it so that it’s applicable to others. You want to figure out a universal system that can get many people to that final result. Review every responsibility at large, and then drive down into each subtask and small detail it took to get to the result place. It helps to literally list every big and little step along the way.
- Serve. If you know me I believe in serving long before you ever sell. One of the best ways to gain traction and interest in your capabilities is by serving others at no cost. When you start getting people results for free, even through little wins, you can bet big bucks that more people will start coming to you with their questions, wallets open and ready.
- Systemize. Once you really have the trajectory for getting your results down pat (and, by the way, many of you reading this are probably already there, getting people results and serving others well), build out the system you use. What works really, really well for the majority? Get your road map down on paper — or, you know, a Google doc. Whatever floats your boat.
- Refine. Everything is editable. Repeat after me: I can edit, change, tweak, and refine, but it’s better to get my knowledge out there imperfectly than to die with it inside of me. Pay hyper-close attention to questions asked or any problems that might arise. Be flexible with your system, tweak it, tailor it, and refine it into the most impactful version that is easiest for others to understand AND apply.
- Explode. This is the real fun one. After your system is in a really good spot, it’s time to offer it up to the masses to make a greater impact. One of the most powerful ways to do this is a digital course — it’s accessible to all, users can absorb the info at their own pace, and you can package up all the nitty-gritty details of your system into a resource that’s spacious and sustainable and evergreen.
The important details you don’t want to miss:
Keep showing up for your peeps. Your audience is the group of people you’ve been showing up for and creating real engagement with in order to create a know-like-trust factor. They’re who will be interested and invested in the contents of your course, but whether they’re your email list, social media followers, or in-person customers, you’ve got to make sure you continue nurturing that relationship and caring for them, before, during, and after any course you might offer up to them.
Pick the right sauce. Your secret sauce? It’s that skill you’ve perfected, that special talent the world would benefit from knowing and integrating into their own businesses or lives. Pay super close attention to your own, unique ninja skills, and select the thing that people are always asking about. The trick is tuning into the thing people want the most from you, so much that they’d pay to get access to it. The best part is, you can easily survey them and ask for feedback on social media or email. Be open to changing what you thought was “it,” and be flexible! Ain’t no need to force something nobody’s interested in buying, you know?
Mindset is everything. To launch a course that helps others, you need the mindset to back it up. Any fears that are holding you back… Imposter syndrome telling you to calm down and sit down… Anxieties that people will judge you… Hold on tight and tell them all to hush, because you’ve got big work to do and amazing knowledge to share with the world. Successful course educators deal with limiting mindsets, too. But shifting those beliefs and speaking yourself in empowering and uplifting ways will do more for you than you could ever possibly imagine. For starters… You may even release a wildly successful and impactful course!
KISS. Keep it simple, stupid. You know I love y’all, so let’s get real. You are capable of creating an unbelievable course. Start simple, get your one-of-a-kind knowledge out there, and stop getting stuck in the mud of specifics. Instead, share what you know and serve from the heart. Focus on getting others RESULTS, and you can refine, get fancy, and shake and shimmy into new areas later. Start now with who and what you’ve got.
I know you’ve got this. Of COURSE you’ve got this. (See what I did there? *Course?*) Everything you’ve learned, fought for, and triumphed over in your career and life has equipped you with an unparalleled combination of knowledge and experiences that can boost the lives of others. You just have to go for it. Just start, and if you need a little push of encouragement along the way, meet me in this corner of the internet for a virtual hug and way more resources to help you out on this thrilling journey.
