28: How to Host a Rockstar Course Beta

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Welcome to the Course Creators MBA Podcast. I'm your host Destiny Kopp, and in this podcast we're covering actionable tips to grow your online course business. But before I begin, I want to let you know that this episode is sponsored by my free mini course Course in a Box, which is your plug and play system with templates and videos to get your online course created. You can grab your free Course in a box by going to destinycop.com and this link will be in the show Notes Today we are talking about how to host a Rockstar course beta and I have a special guest with me here today. I have Tasha Booth. Tasha is a podcaster, mentor and online business manager for successful course creators and coaches. She is the CEO of the Launch Guild, an online business management and virtual support agency which supports coaches and course creators with everything from podcast development to systems creation, from daily business management to six figure launches. Tasha, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm so excited about our topic and can't wait to jump in with you.

Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

But before we begin, I have a ton of questions for you. I love talking about betas, but before we begin, can you tell the audience a little bit about you, what you do in your entrepreneur journey?

Absolutely. So yes, my primary business is the Launch Guild which is an agency. I have 15 subcontractors that work with us and the thing that kind of sets us apart from other online business models, management or virtual support agencies is the fact that I have 15amazing experts at what they do. So we don't just have OBMs and VAs. We also have project managers, Facebook ad strategist, graphic designer, three copywriters, social media manager, and a podcast editor. So some of our clients have called us kind of your business in a box, right. So that as they grow and their needs change, we can grow and change along with them, which is really nice. So that's one arm of my business. The other side is that I do have a podcast called How she did that and it's all for virtual assistants and online business managers. So as I was growing my business, I got a lot of VAs and OBMs who were asking me how I grew my business so quickly. And so my podcast is basically teaching them how I did that. So it's business and tech tips for VAs and OBM specifically. So that's what I've been doing for about the last three years. I kind of stumbled into my business. I was working a full time nine to job as the health and well being of two YMCAs, health and well being director of two YMCAs. And I loved what I did, I love my co workers and all of that. But I was just looking to gain more income along the side on weekends and evenings. And so I started off first as a blogger and then learned about being a VA through blogging and quickly was making more doing my VA work part time, weekends, evenings than I was in my full time job. So that is when I realized, like, oh, this is a real business and I can earn income with this. And then it kind of just snowballed from there. I left my nine to five almost two years ago and have been running my business and my agency and growing that ever since.

Perfect. And it is definitely a real business.

Yes.

And you found a good one.

Thank you.

So today I know that you work.

With a lot of course creators and obviously you know, that's the audience that we have here. Listening to this podcast. You and I are going to talk about betas. So the first question I have for you, can you tell us a little bit about, based on your experience and working with many, many course creators that you've been working with, why do you think a course creator should consider doing a beta test?

Yeah, I think that betas are a great opportunity to get more information about what it is that your course needs and to get all of those small things tweaked that sometimes like are either BL or things that we don't even realize that our students need more information about in terms of the course. It's also an opportunity to get some actual feedback and testimonials that you can then use on the sales page once you are fully launching your course. So betas are a great just opportunity overall to gain feedback and also gain some momentum leading into your launch.

Those are some excellent tips. And I've done a beta test in the past for courses that I have launched and I. I really loved getting that feedback from the students because sometimes you just don't know what you don't know. Right. Getting that in and getting that feedback from them. When I did it, at the end of every week, after they've had a chance to complete the course material for the week, I would send them a survey and they could fill that out or we could have a quick phone conversation. And I got such valuable feedback from that.

Right? Yeah, I do the exact same thing. I'm actually running a beta for one of my courses right now, and I do the exact same thing I do every other week. I do a Q and a session with them, which really helps me to see, like, okay, what are the holes in this course? What are the questions that continuously come up? And then also for each one of the modules, I send them a survey at the end. It's the exact same survey for each module. It's just three quick questions, but it gives me feedback on what they're not understanding, what they're stuck with. Points are as they're going through each piece of the course.

So one thing that people, I think struggle with and, you know, especially when they're first starting out and they haven't really built their audience yet, is, you know, they don't know how to find the people for their beta or how to find the right people for their beta. What kind of tips do you have for them on that?

So usually when we either work with our clients on their betas or when I'm running a beta for one of my courses, I look at who are the rock star people in my own audience, right? Who are the people that, no matter what I do, no matter what email I send, they're always opening it, they're really engaged. If you have a Facebook group or something like that, they are kind of your star people that really love what you do and have really become part of your tribe. And so we want to look for those people and offer them the opportunity, number one, because they already love you, so that helps. So they're probably going to say yes to being part of your beta anyway because they already enjoy your content. But number two, they are really people that will be in it and will help you make the material better. So we'll really give you feedback and help you make it better.

So I love that. So the rock, the people that are your rock star audience. So find them.

Yeah, find those people and you can do like the thing about betas is you want them to be smaller. You don't want, you know, you definitely don't want to be offering everybody the beta to your course. So you can do a lot more personal outreach than if you were running a full on course launch and say, I know that this course material is specifically for what you are currently working on or what you want to grow into. And so I thought of you to be a part of this beta and I'd love for you to do it, that sort of thing.

You said that betas generally should be smaller and I would agree with you on that. What is your recommended number of participants?

I like to cap my betas at 20 people. And the reason for that, like I've had clients that have done betas as small as five people. What I've found and what we know just in general with courses, is that unfortunately the majority of people that start courses won't finish. So if you only have five people and about 20% is average for finishing a course right, you have one person out of the five that's going to finish. So that doesn't really give you a lot of data to go on. If you have a few more people, like 20 people, then you can account for the people that are going to only finish half of it or only going to finish, you know, the first or second module and you have more data and you have a couple more people that are going to get all the way through the course so that you can really make better decisions about where you want, where you maybe want to rerecord or add additional materials for.

Very good. So let's just say that we have, you know, went to our audience, we, you know, found some people, you know, 20 or so that really want to participate with us in this beta. What are some of the first steps that we need to do to get started with our beta? So I think it depends on what.

Your course is going to look like in general. I always like to have a Facebook group because I think it gives people an opportunity to get their questions out and to feel really supported, which will also help you get more people actually all the way, 100% through the course. So making sure that like you have number one when you're looking at, even before you start the actual beta, when you're setting it up. There's no need to actually set up a full on sales page, but I like some sort of document so you can fully explain to people what they're getting and what the expectation is of what the course includes. So I set up a Google Doc of some sort that kind of runs similarly in sections and in style to a sales page, but we don't take up the entire time that a sales page takes to create. So from there we want to take that page. Then once we get the actual people into the beta, I want to set the expectations. I like to do an intro video setting the expectations of here's when things will be dripped out, here's where you can find it, here's when I'm releasing everything, here's what I would love to get back from you, here's how you use the group as a resource. So really it's about setting the expectations of it and then also figuring out what container or what way do you want them to bring you questions. So my example is number one, we have the Facebook group where they can post things, they can bring your questions, but then also having those containers of like every other week Q and A sessions, where are other additional places for them to give you feedback, but also for them to come when they, when they have questions or when something is feeling hard or they don't understand it.

Very good. So one of the number one question that I always get asked related to betas is should you charge for your beta? What is your feedback on that?

My feedback is 100% yes, you should charge for your beta. And we have, we've tested it both ways with clients and within my own business. And I will say that we always get better feedback and better committed people when we charge because when there's no, like, when there's no payment of any sort, like when they have not paid you, there's not as much of an investment for them in the actual course. They feel like, oh, you know, like I don't, I didn't like this or I don't feel like doing this, so I'm not going to do the rest of it. When there's an investment, there's a little bit more of a, like, oh, you know, this, I'm struggling with this or I don't understand it. But instead of just like, I'm going to toss it out, I'm just going to keep going because I invested something in it, right? And the investment doesn't have to be like, I like to keep my betas at about 50% of what I think my full launch price will be. So there's definitely an incentive for them to get in on the beta rather than on the full launch. But it also helps them when they have, when they have some, you know, a reason, when they have that monetary reason to keep going.

So I would agree with you. I've done, I've tested it both too in my business, not charging and charging and 100%, absolutely always charge reasons that you mentioned.

Right, definitely. And I think also like on the course creator side of it, when you're not charging, it's like, oh my gosh, I'm doing all this work, I'm creating all this content and I've made no money off of it, you know, so I feel like it's feels on both ends more like a slog when you're not. When you don't have any money involved in it.

So what tech tools are needed for a beta? You need everything that you need when you're going to build the full course. So what do you recommend for the tech tools?

Yeah, so I like already having all of the tech tools that you're going to use for the full course because it's just one less thing that you have to worry about when you're building out your full course. You know, like I always think like, oh, if I run a beta, then when I'm doing the full course, it'll be so much easier. But we know that's not the case because when you're running the full one, you have, you know, you have full sales pages, you have email sequences, you have Facebook ads, you have all the things. So you already have to worry about that. So don't give yourself one more thing to have to worry about by using something a little bit lower tech during the beta and then having to take all of that and then integrate it or translate it into the full thing. So for example, my team and I, we use Kartra for both internally for my, my business as well as for a couple of our other clients businesses. We also use Member Vault and Kajabi and you know, thinkific all of those pieces. So it really depends on what tech you want to use, but I think it will help you in the long run just to say, okay, this is the course platform that I'm going to use and I'm going to put everything in this and treat it just like I would if it was the live launch.

So you've said, you mentioned that you've had experience with Member Vault Katra. Think of it. Kajabi. I'm sure. Teachable too. Which one do you recommend?

It really depends on the needs of the person. So there are things that I love and things that I hate about every single course platform, but what I do really love about both Kartra and Kajabi is number one, they're both all in ones. So you can have your landing pages in there, you can have all of your sales pages, all your email list, everything in there. Some people are like, well, what if everything goes down at the same time? Of course that's, you know, that's something that could happen, but I've never had it happen with Kajabi or with Kartra. So I think that that is the best thing about them. The downside is the price point that it is more expensive. So if you're just starting out and you only need it for your course, then doing something like member Vault that has a free, you know, free program or platform. Thinkific, Thrive or I keep saying thrivecart. I mean teachable.

I know you do.

I know, yeah, Thinkific or Teachable. All three of those have free ones that you can start with. And usually like once you start getting people in there, you're going to want to upgrade to one of their paid programs. But it's a place that you can start integrating and uploading all of your, your modules and stuff and as you're, as you're starting.

So I use, I use Kajabi and I like it. I don't use it for everything. I don't use the email there, I don't use it for my website, but I do use it for my landing pages for my sales funnels. And it is great system. I agree.

Definitely. Yeah. And I mean there's, you know, now the great thing is that there's definitely something for everyone for every price point for how you best like to work and everything. So it's just kind of trying things out and figuring out what works best for you.

So any last minute tips for the course creators who are listening here today on how to launch their beta?

The biggest thing I would say is the thing that I love about a beta is that you get to create such a personalized experience in a way that like as your course gets larger and you have more people going through it, you're never going to get to experience before. So really embrace that love on your beta people. Let them know how much you appreciate them. I know that my beta group has just, we had a lady who was having a really just bad day in general the other day and I love the fact that she thought of that group to be the group to come to and be like, I'm having a crappy day, you know, and I need support around this. And that's the kind of environment that you want to start curating and.

And.

Those sorts of experiences in your beta will help your beta people become your brand ambassadors for when the course actually launches. I know that half the people that are currently in my beta have turned into affiliates for when the course actually launches and that's amazing. The fact that they are having such a great experience that they want to tell other people, I think is an amazing thing. So really lean in, appreciate them and love on them in ways that you, you won't be able to when you have 100 or 1,000 people going through your course.

So Tasha, tell us about the course that you're going through the beta right now with.

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. So my course is called Built to Profit and it is for new or aspiring virtual assistants. It teaches them my seven part framework in how to build and grow a profitable and sustainable business that you love and that creates the life that you crave. So I'm huge about treating your business as a business, creating really great systems and everything up front instead of just kind of hanging out your shingle and saying, hey, I'm open. So yeah, Built to Profit is all about how to create that business that you love.

Thanks for sharing that, Tasha. Can you tell people where to find you?

Yes, you can find me@thelaunchguild.com and I also hang out on Instagram a ton. I love Instagram stories. So my Instagram handle is the launchguilder.

And I will make sure that those links are in the show notes. Course creators, thanks so much for joining us today and thank you, Tasha. I really appreciate the insight that you brought here. I hope everybody enjoyed this episode. Would love for you to rate and review the podcast on itunes or your favorite podcast platform. Have a great rest of your day. Bye for now.