In this episode, Tara gives you a look behind the scenes with one of her coaching clients who is putting together their course structure. She will give the key to knowing HOW to structure the flow of your program.
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Transcript
Hello, everyone, welcome to the course building secrets podcast,
Speaker:I am so happy that you're here. One of the things I want to do
Speaker:today was just actually do an over the shoulder sort of client
Speaker:coaching conversation that I was going to record. So I was just
Speaker:going to record something for a client that well, why not, I'm
Speaker:going to go ahead and record it here. And so you all can benefit
Speaker:from it. Because this is a what I'm going to coach on today is
Speaker:just a really common problem that most people have, as
Speaker:they're trying to package their expertise, get it out there and
Speaker:help their people. And there are so many parts and pieces of what
Speaker:goes into starting an online business, an online course
Speaker:business, online program, business, whatever you want to
Speaker:call it, whatever you are trying to package and put online, there
Speaker:are lots of steps and lots of parts and pieces. But here's the
Speaker:the most important piece is thinking about how you can show
Speaker:up for your people and what they need and when they need it. So
Speaker:as I'm working with my clients, one of the things that we do is
Speaker:we help them package their expertise, put it on a platform,
Speaker:determine what they're going to be teaching how they're going to
Speaker:go through and help their people. When does mentoring and
Speaker:coaching come in? When does content come in? When does their
Speaker:framework come in all those kinds of things. And as you can
Speaker:imagine, you know, you're the main goal of somebody who's kind
Speaker:of getting into this game, it's just to get their sort of
Speaker:expertise out of their head and find the right people that they
Speaker:want to serve and find that core problem that those people need
Speaker:them to help them solve, right, like that's foundationally. The
Speaker:first steps here is is doing that. But what starts to happen,
Speaker:as you get more and more through this process is things get a
Speaker:little jumbled, right. Like there's a lot of things you want
Speaker:to talk about, there's a lot of kind of messaging that needs to
Speaker:happen to kind of, you need to put on your marketing hat, you
Speaker:need to put on your sales hat, you need to put on your, your,
Speaker:your course creator, program creator hat, you have to put on
Speaker:your teacher hat. And you also have to put on your guide hat.
Speaker:And that's what I want to talk about today. Because ultimately,
Speaker:at the end of the day, what you're doing in creating an
Speaker:online business is helping somebody to solve their problem,
Speaker:right, you're offering a service, a product, something
Speaker:that helps somebody with whatever it is they're searching
Speaker:for, right a problem, a solution to something, maybe it's a tool,
Speaker:maybe it's a widget, maybe it's something that they need to move
Speaker:to the next level of their business of their life of their
Speaker:whatever, whatever you whatever you can come up with, right?
Speaker:Everybody has a different topic. But the one thing that's in
Speaker:common is as you start thinking about what you want to teach all
Speaker:the material, all the content, think about your PowerPoint
Speaker:decks, you think about all the things that you want to create
Speaker:workbooks, all the things, what tends to happen is you get
Speaker:overwhelmed with all of the minutia, and you lose sight of
Speaker:the big picture. Alright, so the conversation that I was
Speaker:recording today for one of my clients was specifically about
Speaker:how to structure the cadence of their program. So it's a 10 week
Speaker:program. And so when you look at what that looks like, every
Speaker:week, there are certain activities that they're going
Speaker:to, they're going to show up and, and use to serve their,
Speaker:their customers. Right? So count some content, right? So they're
Speaker:gonna teach something, give somebody a framework, teach
Speaker:something, give them an activity that they can go and do, right,
Speaker:because as we know, like, knowledge without application
Speaker:isn't actually going to do anything for your people, right?
Speaker:It's not going to put them in a place of actually meeting that
Speaker:need, or solving that problem. We need to get them moving. So
Speaker:that's your goal is how do you get them to apply what you're
Speaker:teaching. And each week, you're going to have kind of a discrete
Speaker:set of activities that you're doing to help them for some
Speaker:people, they just have content, and they want to put it out
Speaker:there and they don't want to interact live with their people.
Speaker:Other people and and this is the case with this client I'm
Speaker:working with is that they want to do sort of a hybrid approach.
Speaker:They want to have some content that's, that's either pre
Speaker:recorded, or you know that they can leverage a curriculum that's
Speaker:already been built, and they want to show up for their
Speaker:people. So they can help them along the way.
Speaker:And then they have guest speakers and they have other
Speaker:material and they have assessments and they have guides
Speaker:and they have all these things that they want to give to their
Speaker:people. Which is amazing, right? So great to provide that level
Speaker:of personal touch, and value and give them all the things that
Speaker:they need to be success. Whoa. And and so as they're sort of
Speaker:putting together this structure, it's looking at like, what? What
Speaker:makes up a week? For you as a course creator? And what makes
Speaker:up the week for your learners? The people who are you're going
Speaker:to be teaching? And you need to look at realistically, right?
Speaker:Like, realistically, how much time do you have in your week?
Speaker:Realistically, how much time does your person have to devote
Speaker:to what you're trying to teach? And then you look at it, and the
Speaker:reality is, it's a lot less time than you probably have material
Speaker:for. And so the way we get over that hurdle, is to think about
Speaker:like, what's the main point that you want to teach them? And what
Speaker:do they need to be able to do to apply it to move on, that's as
Speaker:deep as you get, that's as much as you give them at that time.
Speaker:And, and from there, then you can help them take the right
Speaker:steps to move forward. So when you're kind of creating the
Speaker:structure of your program, it's looking at that. Now, all of
Speaker:that's good. I think there's a clear picture with that. What I
Speaker:wanted to stress is that what we need to constantly keep in mind,
Speaker:what we constantly need to come back to is, what is the
Speaker:experience for the learner? Is it simple? Is it something that
Speaker:they can take and apply? Is it meeting them where they are,
Speaker:because here's the reality as an expert. If you look at
Speaker:something, we call it the, the the curse of the expert, right?
Speaker:It's really sort of this. This scale, where as an expert,
Speaker:you're like at a level 10, right, you know, all the things,
Speaker:you're well versed, you've gotten through it yourself, you
Speaker:have all the tips and tricks, you know everything about it,
Speaker:right, you've taken a deep dive, you're super excited about it,
Speaker:you're to level 10. The reality is, is your learner, the person
Speaker:that you are helping is probably at a tour or a three. And so
Speaker:what we do and we tend to do is want to give them all of it to
Speaker:have them become a level 10, when they really just need to
Speaker:get in the game, they just need to become a level two or three.
Speaker:And then over time, we can ascend them to that higher level
Speaker:of experience and expertise. So when you're creating the
Speaker:structure, when you're creating what it is you want to teach,
Speaker:it's really important to remember that they're going on a
Speaker:journey, right? Like you're at the end of the journey, because
Speaker:you're an expert, they're going through the journey. And so they
Speaker:only need what they need, at the level they need it at that
Speaker:particular moment in time. So let me give you a tactical
Speaker:example. So if if you are teaching somebody how to go from
Speaker:being burnt out into a, in a particular role, to helping them
Speaker:sort of thrive in a new career, one of the things that's really
Speaker:important is, is taking them on that journey, right meeting them
Speaker:where they are, when they're burnt out. Typically, that means
Speaker:they don't have a choice. They're feeling stuck there,
Speaker:they're maybe upset, and they just don't have the desire
Speaker:anymore to keep moving forward. Right. So if you've offered them
Speaker:a new solution, and they've taken you up on that solution,
Speaker:so they've purchased your program, where you're teaching
Speaker:them how to move into a new career, they already have hope
Speaker:they are already on the path of not feeling burnt out anymore,
Speaker:because they have hope they have something else to focus on.
Speaker:Their energy can move from where it is right now, which is stuck
Speaker:and burnt out and unhappy to having hope. And having the
Speaker:ability to see that there could be an alternative option. So
Speaker:they're already on the journey of of sort of solving their
Speaker:burnout problem, right. So if you spend hours and weeks on
Speaker:teaching them how to get out of burnout, that may not be what
Speaker:they actually need at that moment. The next thing that they
Speaker:may need after feeling that they have hope and there's a
Speaker:different direction for them is not continue hearing about how,
Speaker:what happens when you're burnt out. But it may be that first
Speaker:step to healing. Right. So
Speaker:what's that first step to healing? Once you have hope once
Speaker:you are moving forward, it's gaining confidence that you have
Speaker:the skills to move in a different direction that you
Speaker:have what it takes, that there's a light at the end of the
Speaker:tunnel, that there are ways that you can sort of reverse engineer
Speaker:the life you want Want, that is the opposite of what it feels
Speaker:like to be burnt out, right? So they're on a journey with you.
Speaker:And so instead of like the tendency to try and teach them
Speaker:all the things, or give them everything in the world, right
Speaker:at one time, is not going to serve your people. And it's
Speaker:probably going to frustrate you, because you're not, they're not
Speaker:actually, you know, maybe healing at the pace you want
Speaker:them to heal, because you're giving them too many things.
Speaker:Right? So where on the path are they? And what do they need at
Speaker:that particular time? So what's that? What's that one thing that
Speaker:they need to keep going on that journey? So my, my message to
Speaker:this particular client is how do you meet people where they are,
Speaker:and, and balance that against what you want to teach. Because
Speaker:you know, you've gone through this process, you know, what
Speaker:they need, in order to keep moving forward. Because you went
Speaker:through this process, you've took a deep dive down into all
Speaker:of the things, which is awesome, and you'll be able to help them.
Speaker:Sometimes along the journey, you need to let people explore and
Speaker:ask for the help and ask for solutions, when they're ready
Speaker:for that, right. So if if mindset is is something that
Speaker:you're teaching, right mindset, or some soft skill kind of
Speaker:things, sometimes people are ready for them at different
Speaker:paces, sometimes, or people are ready for them, as they're sort
Speaker:of struggling through something else more tactical that they're
Speaker:trying to achieve. That's when it becomes meaningful. That's
Speaker:when when you show up as a coach and help them through that
Speaker:process, that it becomes meaningful for them. So when you
Speaker:just teach it as a concept, people say yep, yep, that makes
Speaker:sense. Yep. That's, yep. I should, I should incorporate
Speaker:that. But at that point, it's an actual, like, conceptual
Speaker:conversation, right? They're like, yep, that makes sense. I
Speaker:can incorporate that. Great. But it's much more powerful when you
Speaker:can coach them when they're going through the experience,
Speaker:because you can help them identify, oh, this is what
Speaker:you're struggling with. And this is how we solve that. And here's
Speaker:a framework or some skills to help you work through that
Speaker:process that is much more meaningful, because it's
Speaker:attached to emotion, it's attached to the moment of need,
Speaker:versus being a conceptual activity. So as you're going
Speaker:through and determining when you want to add in mindset, belief,
Speaker:identity shifts, all those kinds of things that sort of go around
Speaker:building skills, it's really important to think about when
Speaker:they need them on the journey, versus when you want to teach
Speaker:them. So again, you know, for those of you who are listening
Speaker:in, you know, you may or may not be in this situation, but think
Speaker:about your course, or think about the course you want to
Speaker:create. And remember that there is two sides to the coin. The
Speaker:first one is what you want to teach. The second one is what
Speaker:your people need when they need it in their journey. And you
Speaker:have to mesh the two together. That is the difference between a
Speaker:course that people do not finish and they're like, yeah, it was
Speaker:fine. I got a couple of tips, and one that people not only
Speaker:finish, but they actually thrive, they actually get to
Speaker:their goal that you're promising. And those are the
Speaker:people that continue to stay, because you've met them when
Speaker:where they are, you've given them the tools when they're in
Speaker:the middle of kind of dealing with it. And then they're able
Speaker:to, you know, overcome those hurdles, overcome those, those
Speaker:kind of kind of false beliefs that we all trip against, and
Speaker:continue moving forward down the path. So this, my friends, is
Speaker:one of the biggest,
Speaker:biggest things that will change the whole trajectory of your
Speaker:online business is paying attention to the moment of need
Speaker:paying attention to when somebody needs something, not
Speaker:when you want to teach it. Alright, there you go. That is
Speaker:my corresponding tip for today. Hopefully this serves you and
Speaker:serves my client as they continue to think through like
Speaker:what is the timing of teaching what they want to teach how to
Speaker:you sprinkle in really high value activities that will help
Speaker:their customers achieve their goals, right, coming in and
Speaker:offering coaching at a time when people are struggling is the
Speaker:time to offer coaching. Coaching without any sort of action is
Speaker:not meaningful, right just gives them more information and
Speaker:doesn't help them apply, how they're moving forward. So
Speaker:hopefully this serves you if you are coaching if you're doing a
Speaker:I've read program, this is an essential piece is showing up at
Speaker:the right time when people are struggling and just add that
Speaker:into your structure, add it in when it makes sense to how
Speaker:they're they're working through the material that you're
Speaker:teaching. And if you forget, think about the last time you
Speaker:tried to learn something, when was it that you're stuck? How
Speaker:did that happen? And then what happened? Did you have somebody
Speaker:there who could? Who could guide you through that time that you
Speaker:were stuck and keep you going on the path? Or did it derail you?
Speaker:Or worse? Did it totally take you off track where you just
Speaker:kind of sat in and spun? Right? A good coach gets you through
Speaker:that, that place and and helps you helps you continue on the
Speaker:path. Alright, there you go. Enjoy.