Welcome to the 2023 version of the Course Building Secrets podcast! In this episode, Tara breaks down the exact steps you need BEFORE you spend money on an official launch. She works with hundreds of businesses and each one falls victim to the expert’s conundrum- this episode will help you overcome this challenge.
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Transcript
Hey, everybody, and welcome to today's episode of the
Speaker:corresponding secrets podcast. All right, well, you may be
Speaker:wondering where I have been. So I took the month of January off,
Speaker:and I did so intentionally, we have been doing some strategic
Speaker:planning some new builds, and lots of different behind the
Speaker:scenes activities to help serve you better. So I am so excited
Speaker:to be back as it is February, I can't believe it. And and so in
Speaker:today's episode, I want to talk just briefly about what you need
Speaker:to do before you launch your online course or your online
Speaker:program. Alright, so so often, when I'm working with people,
Speaker:they're just getting started. They're packaging their
Speaker:expertise. They're transforming their brick and mortar business
Speaker:to an online business. And one of the biggest things that I get
Speaker:is a lot of people who want to just put their their course out
Speaker:there, call it a day and start selling. And unfortunately, it's
Speaker:a little bit more complicated than that. So I want to break it
Speaker:down just slightly in terms of the things that you need before
Speaker:you get started, or where you need to start. Because it's not
Speaker:so much about just recording videos and putting things in a
Speaker:platform, there's a lot of sort of behind the scenes, things
Speaker:that happen first. And so this episode is going to dispel the
Speaker:myth that you can just like, throw something together and put
Speaker:it out there. Alright, so one of the things that we always
Speaker:encourage people to do is start figuring out what your expertise
Speaker:is, right? What is your proprietary framework, your
Speaker:signature methodology, whatever you want to call, it doesn't
Speaker:really matter. But what that means is, you have an expertise,
Speaker:right, you either have something that you've been doing for a
Speaker:very long time you've been helping people with, or you have
Speaker:something that you're super passionate about, that maybe
Speaker:people have been asking you for, right. And so you want to
Speaker:package it into a signature program, either an online
Speaker:course, coaching something, something where you're actually
Speaker:charging for your expertise, right? So here's the thing is
Speaker:that we don't just put a bunch of information out there based
Speaker:on what your expertise is, what you need to do is look within
Speaker:your expertise to figure out what problem you can solve. If
Speaker:you can solve a problem that people are asking for, then you
Speaker:know, you can have a viable solution, you have a viable
Speaker:product that you can sell. But here's the thing is, it's not
Speaker:just about putting your expertise out there. So it's not
Speaker:just like, I'm just gonna give them a bunch of information, put
Speaker:it in a course, and people aren't gonna buy it all day
Speaker:long. And, and that's not really how it works, right. So you have
Speaker:to be able to solve a problem. And it's a burning problem that
Speaker:people have. If it's not a burning problem, then you have
Speaker:to dig deeper within your expertise to find the problem.
Speaker:For example, I'm working with somebody right now. And she is
Speaker:well established, she has tons of authority in her space. And
Speaker:what she's doing in her brick and mortar business is very
Speaker:unique. However, she wants to create an online program to sort
Speaker:of support that. But the way that she's putting it together,
Speaker:the way that she was thinking about putting it together before
Speaker:she started working with us, is to just put all the information
Speaker:that she knows out there that somebody can, can take and the
Speaker:question becomes like so what, right? So you're super
Speaker:passionate about it. But how does that translate into
Speaker:somebody else being able to take action or getting a
Speaker:transformation. And you have to be very strategic. And you have
Speaker:to be very intentional about that. Otherwise, it's just a lot
Speaker:of information. And people can go to Google, or anywhere else
Speaker:to get information, right. And so that's the very first thing
Speaker:that you need to do is what's your proprietary framework? How
Speaker:do you help somebody solve their problem to get to a
Speaker:transformation or a result, not about information, it's not
Speaker:about teaching, it's about that transformation. So that's the
Speaker:first thing. So work on that really look and look deep within
Speaker:your expertise, what you're really excited about, and then
Speaker:the problems that you're helping people solve. You can do that if
Speaker:you can identify that problem, then what you're going to do is
Speaker:you're going to say, Okay, well, how does somebody solve the
Speaker:problem? What are the steps that they need to take to solve the
Speaker:problem, then that is where the framework for your course starts
Speaker:to come to life is in that piece. Alright, now, the second
Speaker:thing that you need to do is actually start spreading the
Speaker:message online or offline, however, you're building your
Speaker:business, right? But you need to tell people about it. You need
Speaker:to test it, and you need to start attracting people in who
Speaker:want that problem solved. The biggest challenge that people
Speaker:have is they want to build the thing and then hope that people
Speaker:come and what happens when you do hope marketing is Nobody
Speaker:comes right. So you don't want to build it before you have
Speaker:people who are ready to buy it. And so there's a stance that
Speaker:needs to happen where you need to start attracting people,
Speaker:building your list, and getting people in your world. Once you
Speaker:get them in your world, then you can start selling them into your
Speaker:solution. It's kind of like dating, right? You don't just
Speaker:call somebody on the phone, or text them or do whatever, right
Speaker:and say, Hey, let's get together and go on a weekend together out
Speaker:of town, right? Like, it doesn't work. That way. You have to
Speaker:maybe meet, talk on the phone, first, you maybe meet for
Speaker:coffee, and then you have dinner, and then you go to a
Speaker:movie or whatever, right, you progressively are spending more
Speaker:time with somebody or you're progressively gaining more and
Speaker:more of a commitment towards hanging out together, it's the
Speaker:same thing for your audience, you need to attract them, they
Speaker:need to be interested in what you have to offer. And then you
Speaker:need to sort of date them for a while, right, you need to
Speaker:nurture them, by sending them emails or giving them content,
Speaker:different things like that, once you do that, then people are
Speaker:ready to go and and purchase from you. The caveat to that is
Speaker:if you find enough people who have a big problem that you're
Speaker:able to solve, you can sometimes shortcut that process. But most
Speaker:of the time, you have to start by building your authority and
Speaker:gaining visibility, then, and only then do you start actually
Speaker:producing the assets to create your online program, we
Speaker:recommend doing this as a live beta with real humans. So you
Speaker:get that feedback. But sometimes that's not necessarily
Speaker:realistic, because you have a full time job or a full time
Speaker:business that you're running. And so there are ways to get
Speaker:around that. But most of the time, we recommend that you run
Speaker:through it once as a beta, and then start to package it. So all
Speaker:of those things are happening before you go through a formal
Speaker:launch of putting it all out there. And and, you know,
Speaker:expecting to get lots and lots and lots of sales. And and so
Speaker:this is the process that happens before you even do a formal
Speaker:launch. When you are ready to do a launch, a lot of the
Speaker:foundational pieces are put together, right you have a
Speaker:platform, you have some funnels that are driving traffic in
Speaker:consistently to your to your site, right to what you have to
Speaker:offer. And then when you start to sell your program, then you
Speaker:have buyers who are ready to go, that makes a much easier and
Speaker:more successful launch than starting from zero and going
Speaker:straight to launch without that warmup process. For some people,
Speaker:this takes a very short period of time. For other people, it
Speaker:takes a longer period of time. So it just really depends on how
Speaker:established you are, how visible you are, and what kind of
Speaker:systems and foundations you have in place that help kind of drive
Speaker:that engine all the way through. So that is my course building
Speaker:tip for you today is make sure when you start this game, one,
Speaker:you're being realistic about the time that it takes to get the
Speaker:ball rolling. Number two, make sure that you set yourself up
Speaker:for success by making sure that you're focused on the problem
Speaker:that you're solved, solving and not the information that you
Speaker:want to give people most of the time. In a in a conversation
Speaker:that I'm having. It's really looking at like you're an
Speaker:expert. So you're at like a level 10 Your person that you're
Speaker:helping is usually at like a level two or three. So if you
Speaker:look at that on a continuing continuum, you need to teach to
Speaker:a two or three not to a 10 99% of my experts come in at a level
Speaker:10 and want to teach to a level 10. And the problem is, is that
Speaker:they're not solving the right problem for their learner,
Speaker:they're solving something different, right? Or they want
Speaker:something different to happen. They want to create a
Speaker:transformation in the world before they can make a
Speaker:transformation in an individual. And so you've got to start with
Speaker:the individual, you've got to look at it from their
Speaker:perspective and what problem they're solving. And most of the
Speaker:time, it's a lot more simple than you anticipate. So
Speaker:go back, look at that. Determine your proprietary framework and
Speaker:then start building the blocks to make that happen. All right,
Speaker:there you go. That is my tip for today. If you are looking for
Speaker:help for this whole process, give me a call in the shownotes
Speaker:you can grab my link, let's jump on a call and talk through it
Speaker:because one of the things that I am so passionate about is
Speaker:helping people shortcut this process because it's painful if
Speaker:you don't and what happens is you spend a lot of money and a
Speaker:lot of time putting something out there that may not convert
Speaker:and the fastest path to success is really dying. laying in these
Speaker:front end pieces to make sure that you are successful on the
Speaker:back end alright there you go have a great day
