With Emily Walker
Creating an online course.
By now you’ve definitely heard about it being a lucrative way to supplement your income, but how do you even get started creating an online course and how do you know it is even for you? Today we’re going to cover why you can be an educator, how you can create your first course, how you choose the right topic, and all the nitty gritty in between.
I created my first course in April 2017, Beginner Photography Mastery, and since then I have created Product Photography Mastery. At the time of this recording I’ve taught over 4500 paid students through my courses. And that number grows daily. In fact I expect it will be close to 10 thousand students by the summer of 2021. I can’t begin to tell you how exciting and rewarding it is to know that I have reached this many people with my photography teachings.
Before I go any further, I want to say that I can practically hear your objections and inner mean girl through my podcast booth saying: Kelly, I am NOT an expert in anything, what could I possibly even teach? Heck, I’m already an imposter and the thought of charging money to teach something is such a farce.
Oh inner mean girl, how she tries so hard to protect your ego, but here’s the thing, she also gets it all wrong because she holds you back from your full potential. By the way, I thought all of those things too and I sometimes still do. Who am I to teach photography to the masses? I mean, I learned most of what I know from Google University. But if I listened to that negative little voice over 4000 people wouldn’t be nailing their photography right now and things like this podcast wouldn’t exist either, and I think that would be so sad for us. Am I right?
So, I wanna say to you that you already have the knowledge, know how and expertise in something, and there are people out there who would happily pay you to teach them what you know. What you take for granted as day to day stuff that you do so easily may not come as easily to everyone else. So before you start thinking that you have nothing you can teach, I want to challenge you to dig a little deeper into that mindset. Start thinking about the things that people ask you to show them, things that people turn to you for. Maybe it’s how you get your kids to sleep so effortlessly every night. Maybe it’s your epic candied apple recipe. Maybe it’s how to set up a WordPress blog. I’ve seen online courses on things as simple as learning to can vegetables! I have recently enrolled in a course where I learned how to make animated gifs for my business. The possibilities are endless and there are literally limitless ideas that would make for a successful online course ranging from super simple to more in depth.
Today’s guest, Emily Walker, works with her clients everyday to navigate the mindset blocks and processes of creating and launching online courses. She is going to uncover everything you need to know to get started from what to include in your course lessons and how to strategically put it out into the world.
Emily is a wealth of knowledge and she has helped so many lucky students make an online course a success in their businesses and I just know that after listening to today’s episode, you will be full of ideas and raring to get started with YOUR very own online course. So if putting your own online course out into the world is something you’ve been pondering, well today’s episode is especially for you!
In this episode, Emily talks about
- The difference between growing your business and scaling your business. 5:43
- Where to start when you are thinking of scaling your business (hint: focus on the transformation). 7:04
- How knowing your people well, what they need and their pain points, will influence how you design a workshop, program, or course. 8:41
- The two key secrets to developing the perfect program. 10:01
- How to build up anticipation and get your program out into the world. 12:29
- What to do when you have already put out content and was met with crickets. 15:50
- The secret to a successful launch. 18:03
- Tips and tricks to create a quality and engaging course – design and mechanics (done is better than perfect). 21:03
- Best practices around pricing your course. 23:31
- Examples of low ticket, strategic, and signature types of courses. 25:38
- Getting unstuck with an existing course offering and put it back to work for you. 28:14
- Common mistakes people make when they are putting their content out there. 31:37
- How Emily landed herself in the position to teach people how to create effective courses – taking what is in your head and creating a transformation learning experience. 33:28
- Getting past the old mindset block and embracing your unique magic – who are you NOT to be teaching your course?! 34:36
- Launching like a pro and making it fun! 36:34
- Shift away from the mindset that selling is inconvenient to people, you are offering a solution that people want and that is okay. 38:20
- Overview of sales tools for selling your course and having a successful launch. 40:48
If you are just starting, connect with your people. People that are going to be an excellent fit for the program your are going to create, people you know are your dream audience. Chat with them and find out what is going on in their world, what problems are they having, what questions do they have and really connect with them.
Emily Walker
So there you have it, Emily’s very best tips for creating your very own online course and how to set yourself up for success so that your digital course can reach the masses and become a repeatable income stream for you well into the future. It has been a very effective way for me to drive profits in my business without needing to drive a lot of extra time. And it has enabled me to reach THOUSANDS of photography students, which would never have been possible in the non-digital world.
I hope my chat with Emily has left you feeling inspired about what creating a course could do for you and your business. And before you move on with your day, I want you to go write down some course ideas and set some goals for yourself… Then keep those promises and do the work. This type of business venture is so easy to push aside because it will not be screaming for your attention, but hopefully, after listening to today’s show, you have a better understanding of the potential impact it can have on your business and on your future students.
So, set the goals, put them in your calendar and be accountable to yourself. Okay? Okay.
Thank you again for tuning into yet another episode of the workshop weekly podcast, and head over to Instagram and let me know what course you are thinking about creating. Telling the world is a very important early step in the process, and make sure you tag me so I can cheer you on, and maybe become your student!
Until next week my friend, bye for now.
Connect with Emily
www.facebook.com/modernleadersco
www.instagram.com/modernleadersco
A note from our sponsors:
Do you ever think about starting your own podcast but you worry that the sound quality might hold you back? Well don’t let that be the culprit. I wanna let you in on a little secret… lean in… East Coast Studio
East Coast Studio is the reason that this podcast sounds so amazing and they will take care of all your sound editing needs so that you can focus on the fun stuff. The experts at East Coast Studio will ensure your podcast is the highest possible quality, to reflect well on you and your brand and to deliver the best possible listening experience to your audience. East Coast Studio is a proudly Atlantic Canadian business and today they are offering 25% off of your first audio editing service. Just send an email to [email protected] and tell them Kelly sent you.
–
If you’re looking to elevate your business or brand photos using your smartphone or any other photo-taking device, I don’t want you to miss out on my most downloaded free resource.
The results people are getting from this guide are crazy, some say I should be charging actual money for it. But for now, I don’t want to because I want everyone to get the beautiful photography results that they deserve. No more blurry, dark, dull, yellowish, shadow-y embarrassing photos for you! It’s so much easier to get a beautiful photo than you probably think. Simply visit kellylawson.ca/freeguide to download your free photography guide and start taking better photos for your business TODAY.