#175 - The things you need to do BEFORE you create your course

Hey there guys, it is Kate here from hello Funnels and welcome to the Doing It Online podcast. Now today we are doing a little bit of a step back and we are talking about one of the more important beginner topics and that is around the things you actually need to make sure you do before you go and create an online course. So this is for people who have never created an online course before. If you already have online courses and you're just looking to create another one, this isn't actually the episode for you. Go check back a couple months ago. I'm sure we've got something to help you there. But for those of you who are planning on creating an online course sometime in the next few months or even years and you want to make sure that you do it the right way, that you sort of get things, kick things off with a win, this episode is just for you. So let's dive right on in.

This is the Doing It Online podcast with your host, serial entrepreneur 6 and 77 figure funnel strategist and super nerd Kate McKibben, where every week we're here talking nerdy and sharing the things that actually work to help you do what you do online. But better, easier and with a ton more profit too. Are you ready? Let's do it.

Alrighty guys. So in case you don't know, over the years I have worked with literally thousands of course creators from those who are just getting started, which is the people I want to talk to today, to those who have been creating courses for almost as long as I have, which by the way is about, about 14 years at this point. So today I want to talk about those things that I really, really help if you get in place first and really, really help to make sure that that first course that you create, that which is a big deal, which takes a lot of time, which is scary, that when you put that effort, when you put that amount of heart and that amount of energy into something and for a lot of you, you've probably had it on your to do list for a while and you've put it off because it is too scary and it does seem too overwhelming. So when you do actually get around to doing it or I want to make sure that it is a big win for you and there are a couple of things, a couple of things you want to have in place or you want to have done first that I have seen be common threads with those people that I have worked with over the years who do create their first online course and it just smashes it out of the park. And that is what I want for you guys. So let's dive into those. The very first one, I don't know, a lot of people are going to hate this, but it's important, guys, is that whatever the, the topic, the promise, the outcome, whatever it is that you're planning on creating a course around, please, please, please make sure that you work with some clients and get them that result first. So work one on one. I know a lot of people think, oh, online course. That is my way of skipping past having to do the one on one stuff. I don't want to do one on one. I don't have enough time. I'm too introverted, it scares me. I don't want to do that. I just want to skip straight to the online course. The problem with that is that you are doing yourself, your course and your potential clients a huge disservice. If you have not actually tested, refined and created some kind of system or steps or process that is unique to you. That is what you're going to teach in the course these days. It is not enough to be able to say, hey, I did this thing myself, I'm going to show you what I did. Because I think we all have seen this enough now that we know that just because something has worked one time for one person, it does not mean that you can go out and really say that this is therefore going to work for you and you and you. Now, that doesn't mean you have spent years and years doing this because there's some other steps you need to be doing as well. So I would just recommend, while you are doing these other pieces that you take on a couple of one on one clients, it doesn't have to be for a whole year. It could be for a session of six weekly sessions where you help them. But there's so many reasons why this is beneficial and is a step that should not be skipped. Number one is just amazing research. Like, it's like the best market research you could ever do because you're going to hear in their words, their own exact wording, which is just marketing gold. What it is they're frustrated with, what it is that they've tried, what it is that they want, what it is that they're hoping to achieve, what they don't want to have to do. And all of that stuff, like if you're going to try and figure it out through other methods without actually speaking to your ideal clients, can take a lot longer. It's probably not going to be as precise or as powerful next is you actually get a chance to see what works and what doesn't and get that real time feedback by seeing how it applies in other people's lives, other people's businesses, whatever it is that you're helping them with. And then you get to start putting your own spin on it. Because if you want to come out into the online course world these days, it is a much busier space than it used to be and only getting more so. And so you need to be able to come out with two really important things. One, absolute certainty that you know that you can help people, that your method helps people because you've seen it, you've done it, it's tick. And the next thing is it needs to be something that is unique or different to you. It can't just be, oh, this is thing that for some people kind of makes it a bit better. In this really broad thing, you're just not going to get the sales, you're not going to get the cut through. So until you have figured out what is your, what is the thing that you can do that is special, that is unique, that is different, I would recommend that you work one on one with people. Now that's not saying that you're going to be working one on one and giving these people a bad service at all. You can be working one on one in a much more broad fashion. But over that time of doing this one on one work, whether it is is a coach or a consultant or whether it's actually doing like done for you stuff, you're going to start to see some common threads, you're going to start to see the impact of doing things in certain orders or a certain way. And that is going to become your system, which yes will be get refined and refined over time, but that becomes your thing that is unique and special. So please do not skip that. Please do not think you can just go straight to an online course. Particularly if you have any kind of bigger outcome that you are promising. You need to be able to have tested it in the real world, have seen how it works with other people. And the other thing that you will get from doing this one on one is you'll get testimonials because it's really, really difficult to get out there in the world when you don't have a big market or a big following or a whole ton of experience and these like proof indicators, people aren't going to believe you and your big promises. So when you have testimonials say look, I've helped this person, this is what they said and I helped this person and this is what happened. So you need to have those proof indicators as well. Now of course for some people you might be like, well I've been doing, working one on one with people for years. Great, you can skip this step, you've already done it. But if you are getting started, if this is a, a new thing or it's maybe it's just a thing that you've done for yourself then and you want to now help other people with it, I really would recommend that you help some people in a closer working like relationship than trying to do it as a big group course. Right off the bat, your course will be better, the outcomes will be better, you will get better results if you don't skip that step. That's step number one. Step number two is I really would recommend you go out and actually take some courses yourself. So you've probably got a little bit of an idea of the kind of ballpark pricing delivery that is you're thinking about offering. Because there's a big scale, like you could have a $47 course or you could have a $47,000 coaching program. Like there's a big scale in there guys. So whatever it is that you're thinking of doing, I would go and take some courses. Now I wouldn't go necessarily jump into your competitors courses. I mean you could do that as well as a, as long as you're not copying them and as it's just pure market research. But go and jump into some courses that are relevant to you. So you'll actually consume them, you'll actually go through them properly and go and see like how is it structured, how is, is it drip fed or is it released all at once, how are they doing their support, what kind of assets, what kind of tools, what do I love, what would I like to do differently, what do I not use or not find useful. And all of that is going to help to educate you to create the, the best program possible for your ideal clients. So next, and this is actually probably what you want to be doing behind the scenes while steps one and two are going on is you need to be obsessively out there growing not just your audience but your email list. Like email list, most importantly. But you know, usually we recommend people have like one social media platform and then your email list and you're kind of, you're growing the social media platform and sending people to your email list. So you end up with both and you need to be going hard on this Guys, you need to have a minimum of 500 people on your email list. And this is 500 people who have opted in recently, like, not like three or four years ago, who, who have been nurtured, who you've been sending regular content to so that they expect to hear from you. They're excited to hear from you. So when you launch your offer, they're gonna be like, oh, yeah, this sounds great. Not like, who are you again? Why are you emailing me? So you need at least 500, and that's no small thing. So I don't. I'm not a fan of hustle culture and going out there and just like, hustle, hustle, hustle for the sake of it. But this is one phase of your business where you kind of need to get over that tipping point, getting your first few thousand. Like, yes, first 500. But ideally, like, you're probably gonna keep doing that for a little bit. Bringing the first few thousand people in your email list is such a key milestone, and the faster you can do it, the better. You don't want to spend years doing this, guys. So there's lots of different tactics and things that you can use. Free ones, paid ones, whatever it is. This is a period of business where I recommend that you're going to have to, you know, put your hat in your hand and go to friends, go to previous clients, go to any and all contacts you have and see if they can share your stuff, help promote you in any way, because that's the only way you're going to be able to get that free first jump as fast as possible without just spending a ton of money on ads. So you want to do that, guys. You want to make sure that is happening in the background. Don't do these other pieces and go, okay, right, I'm ready to go now. I need my list because it takes, like, let's be realistic here. It takes months, if not years for a lot of people to get their first few hundred, if not thousand. So we want to make sure that you're doing it, that it's a priority and that you're doing it as quickly as possible. And when you do get someone on your list, guys, please, please, please, please communicate with them. Please send them. Value doesn't have to be every day, doesn't have to be super long. Just make sure they don't forget about you. Make sure they keep wanting to hear from you, keep being happy for you to appear in the inbox.

Number four. This is the thing to do. Remember the guys. This is things to do before you create your first online course is sell it. Okay, so you've done your research with your one on one, you've created your unique system or your unique way of doing things. You've got some great testimonials, done some research, you know, how you want to structure it, how you want to support people, how the things you're going to put in, the things you're not going to put in. You've built up an email list. Now it is time to actually go out there and sell it. So we normally recommend that people, when they're selling their very first program, just because there's so many, you know, moving pieces to keep it as simple as possible. You want to do a beta launch, so that means you don't need to learn also how to do a webinar and how to do all this other stuff. You can keep it simple, you can keep it to just emails, but utilizing a couple of, you know, key strategies to make sure those emails work for you as well as possible. But you want to make sure you sell it. Like this is the. One of our key so mantras here at hello Funnels is that you always test before you invest. So before you invest not just money, but time and the time in creating this program, you need to get out there and make sure that this market, this little audience that you have built, they actually want to buy that particular thing. So hopefully with all the research and everything you've done, you got a really good idea of what it is that they need and how to make it sound different and special and just super enticing. But if you have got it wrong, isn't it better to know now? Yes, it might sting. But before you've now gone and spent another couple of months creating the content, building the whole thing out. If it's not what they actually want and if they don't buy, you know what, that's just great feedback. That's great information. Go back, repeat the circle, repeat the circuit, you know, work with a few more people, one to one, do some more research, come up with another idea, pre sell it again, you always want to pre sell guys. It's so, so important. And the final piece. And again, I probably do this earlier, like I probably haven't ordered these very well. But the fifth thing that I think is really important to do before you create your first online program is to go and find some communities to become a part of and to be interact member of. So that is whether you join a group coaching program and you sort of, you get in there and you get involved or even you find some Facebook groups, maybe you have some business friends already, maybe you join a mastermind. Whatever it is, you want to be surrounded by a network of other people doing similar things. Not just for the emotional support because that is really important, but because that network is going to allow you to to grow much faster as well. So that's selfish reasons. But going in there adding value help, it means more people will know about you, people will be able to refer you, you can potentially do joint ventures with people. If you are trying to build your business on your own without any kind of network, it is going to go at a frustrating snail's pace. So those are the top five things guys. I would recommend that everybody goes and does before they create their first online program. You've got any others? Anything you think I've missed? Feel free to DM us @hellofunnels over on Instagram or hit us up below. I hope it's been super valuable to you guys and let us know when you launch that program. We can't wait to cheer you on. Alrighty guys, have an awesome week and I will see you next time. Bye.

Thanks so much for listening to the Doing It Online podcast. If you love this episode, don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review. And if you're ready to take your online course sales to the next level with your own six or seven figure funnel, let Kate show you exactly to how how today@Stealmyfunnel.com.