How To Create An Online Course That You Love & People Want To Buy

#053: Are you unsure how to turn your existing service or what you do as a freelancer into an online course that you love and does your work justice, but also is in high demand and will deliver the results for your business? 

Look no more, because what I'm sharing on this episode will give you the clarity you need.

In this episode, you will learn: 

• Why I believe that you loving your course is just as important as there being demand for your course, and how you can gut check the offer first before you create it. 
• The things you need to know about your audience BEFORE you start creating your online course offer 
• Bringing it all together so that you can create the right course that will generate sales, get results for your customers and also has longevity in your business

I hope you enjoy this episode.

Lou xx

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the online course creator show. This is episode 53, and in this episode, I'm talking all about how to create an online course that you love and people want. So today's topic is twofold. I think it's natural to consider what people will buy when it comes to creating your online course and choosing the right topic, and this is really, really important and we will be talking about that today. But ultimately, as the person that's going to be marketing this course and delivering this course, you really need to love your offer and you need to believe in your offer, because if you don't believe in your offer, how do you think that will play out when it comes time to sell it? You have to believe in your offer first and the most in order for anyone else to see the value. So it's really important that you really love what you're teaching. You know that what you're teaching helps people achieve their goals, and you're prepared to shout it from the rooftops, and there's no doubt that that type of conviction, that type of faith in your online course offer, actually really helps. People also share that same belief in it too. So this episode is going to cover it from both viewpoints and meeting the middle to create something truly epic. Now, before I get into today's episode, I wanted to ask have you checked out my upcoming five day bootcamp yet? It's called the Create your Dream online course Bootcamp and it's for you. If you want to create an online course, but you're not sure what the topic should be, what should be in it and if people will even buy it. If you're a service provider or a freelancer, this bootcamp has been made specifically for you. You will learn how to put together an Epic Online course that will be in high demand, and you can map it all out within five short days. I'd love to see you there. You can sign up at loublaclisco and I'll also share that link in the show notes and below this episode in your podcast player as well, so have a look there. It kicks off next week, monday, the 31st of July, and I would love to have you join me for those five days.

Speaker 1: 2:19

Now let's dive into today's episode. It's vital that you love what you've created when it comes to an online course To get the results over the long term, because there is absolutely no point in creating an online course that you've got a short term plan for the real benefits of having an online course in your business actually come over a year to two years. So we're looking at it with that kind of longer term view rather than just throw up a course and see if it sells and then give up in a couple of months, kind of thing. So I just wanted to run you through when it comes to like, is this the right offer for you? Do you love it? I'm gonna run you through a weed checklist to make sure that your online course idea and the kind of program or course that you've created or thinking of creating is right for you. No-transcript Is this something you're truly passionate about or you just know how to do it? And I think it's really important to make that distinction. And actually, if you are teaching a program just because you know how to do it but you don't love it, I would really question whether that is the right topic for you.

Speaker 1: 3:35

Now, the reason that I point this out is because this is actually my experience. My first online course did really well, but the passion behind it just wasn't there. And when I actually looked back to when I created it, I created it because there was a demand for it and I knew how to do it, but I didn't. Really it wasn't my main thing, it wasn't what I wanted to be known for, and that was a huge thing when I realized that, because I was holding myself back from promoting it because it wasn't something that I wanted to be known for. It wasn't my life's work, if you think about it that way. I actually recorded a whole episode on this, and that is episode four, and the name of the episode is how I knew it was time to retire my first online course. So I'll link that in the show notes as well and if you want to have a listen, go and check that episode out.

Speaker 1: 4:36

Now let's move on with this checklist. So, when it comes to creating an online course, it's definitely going to help you if you have achieved the result that you're teaching either for yourself in your own life or in your business, or you help your clients achieve that in your current services. If that is not the case and you're planning on teaching a course where you actually have to go and learn anything new in order to then deliver that course, I recommend you go back to the drawing board Now. You don't need to be like years and years and years advanced beyond who you're teaching, but you definitely need to have achieved the outcome that you're promising in your course. Now, why is this important? It's important because you're going to feel out of alignment, which is going to stop you showing up and sharing your online course with the world. Now, not everyone is going to feel out of alignment, but I think if you are a person who wants to be in integrity, then I think you would feel out of alignment, right? So I think this is really important. So just do that little check have you produced these results for yourself, or do you produce them for your current customers or clients? And if you do, then there's going to be absolutely nothing that's going to stop you from showing up and sharing your online course with the world, which is absolutely essential if you want to make good money from it.

Speaker 1: 6:06

Now, the next thing on the checklist is to question is the format you're teaching in the right one for you? So, when it comes to online courses, like, I talk a lot about online courses on this podcast, but really you can be creating, like a mini course, a bigger signature online course, a group coaching program or a membership. So what format have you chosen? What's included in terms of like? Is there a community. Are there calls like regular coaching calls, or it could be Q&A calls or office hours, like we can craft the offer any way we like, and this is actually something we're diving into on the bootcamp next week.

Speaker 1: 6:45

So you need to be in alignment and you actually need to be happy To deliver what you've created. Like it's so well and good of putting all the stuff into an offer to make it really irresistible and amazing, but if you then don't want to deliver it like we've got a problem. So if it is a group coaching program, for example, are you actually prepared to jump on calls and coach people through the problems that they're experiencing and help them find a solution, and In that kind of deep way where you're face to face, actually working through that, because that's what a group coaching program is. But maybe you prefer a more hands-off approach. So that could actually mean that you're actually better off creating, like, a signature online course where it's self-study and you're not particularly offering that support. However, you may do like the occasional Q&A call where people can ask you questions, for example, like there's so many ways that you can shape it here.

Speaker 1: 7:41

Another thing to remember when you're actually crafting out your online course Offers, do you have the capacity to actually deliver what you've committed to? And if you had any option in the world, how do you want to deliver it? What would feel amazing and make you want to keep delivering it in the long run? Because that's what we're after, and it's totally Okay if you're one of those people that actually doesn't want to be hands-on, like I think that's half the attraction of this business model, and you don't have to add in all the calls and be available. You just need to know that and actually create the right offer to suit you, because if you create the offer just to make it an absolute no-brainer, but then you've got all these extra add-ons that you don't actually want to deliver, you're gonna start resenting it and then you're actually not gonna want to sell it. So you can see how this is going to hurt your sales. It's also important and on this checklist I'll put is your online course priced right?

Speaker 1: 8:39

If you, I know that it's tempting that when you're putting an online course together to Put like a lower price and I think there's definitely some online courses out there that are Probably overpriced as well but I think that the main thing that I've noticed is that there's a tendency to price courses really low, like even under $100, yet they're like signature program level, which is quite big, and I really feel for the people that do that, because they're just never going to see the return that Justifies having put together all of that amazing information in the first place. So if you have created an online online course and you've got it on your website and it's really cheap, then I Invite you to revisit that, because even if you have had sales but it's been at that lower price, quite often what this does is it leads to a Feeling of resentment, which means that you're not in alignment with it. You're not in love with selling your offer, so why would you keep selling it when the payoff for you is Not good? So I actually spoke about this in the last episode as well around pricing. So go back and listen to that, which is episode 52. So that's the end of the checklist. So when all of these align, you have an online course that you're super proud to stand behind, and that is vital. The energy you bring comes from the passion you have for it, and you must have that in order to sell it successfully. Now for the part where your audience will love it too.

Speaker 1: 10:16

It's easy to assume that, because people already pay you to work with you one on one, that there's going to be a whole bunch of people that will simply buy your course because it's a cheaper option and it's more accessible because of that lower price point, and, while this may be true for a small segment of your audience, it's really not going to be the thing that creates an in demand course. It could be that the work that you're doing in your services and your one on one work may be suited really well to that mode of delivery where it's hands on, it's one on one, but it's not necessarily going to translate that well into a course. It could be either too much, too much for people to get through, too overwhelming, or actually sometimes people simply don't want that thing that you do in your services. They actually don't want that in the mode of delivery of an online course. It could also be that your ideal customer for your services is not the type of person who is going to buy your course, because, when you think about it, usually people that buy courses are prepared to do that, have an element of DIY right, and I think this is actually really, really common and something that you should consider.

Speaker 1: 11:28

So a good example of that is say, you're a beauty therapist and you specialize in facials. You are well known for giving amazing facials. You're in high demand and you are considered an expert when it comes to facials. You also realize that you'd like to remove yourself from the delivery side of your business at some point, or that you can't do what you're doing now, forever just booking up your calendar all day long full of facials in order to make money. Or it could be that simply, you want to add an extra income stream to your business. So creating an online course could solve all of these.

Speaker 1: 12:10

But you can't teach skills on how to become a great facialist to people you're already providing services for because they don't want it. They actually just want to turn up to the beauty therapy clinic and be pampered, right? So instead, you're going to have to offer this to other aspiring facialists and beauty therapists, because that is actually the market that wants this course. So if this is a new market for you, obviously it's not the same as the people that are coming into your beauty clinic. You actually need to go out to this market, whether it's completely new market for you or if it's a subset of your existing market, and find out specifically what these people want and we do not want to make assumptions here. So we need to find out what problems are they experiencing, what challenges are they facing, what do they want to achieve and how soon do they want to achieve this? What do they consider to be a roadblock or roadblocks to getting to where they want to be, and where do they actually want to be six months from now, one year from now, five years from now?

Speaker 1: 13:17

Now it's up to you to find out that information and then craft an online course offer specific to that. It could be that people actually want help with something different than what you thought. It could just be a subset of what you offer in your service. They also want that result. In six weeks Now, you can actually then have good information that you can then go and craft a course around. But that's just an example. Right, it's vital to really narrow down who your online course is going to be serving, rather than assuming it's the same people that currently pay top dollar for your private services. I believe in most cases it's not the same person. So find out exactly what they need and provide that for them. It's important to get the symphony from them so that you can hear their words and then meet them where they're at, rather than putting something in front of them that they don't even know that they need and then, of course, they don't want it right. So with a combination of creating an online course that lights you up and gives you joy, with a course that meets your new ideal customer where they're at and delivers the outcomes that they actually want, you can create an online course that is in high demand, that delivers on the promises that you love to deliver and that makes you a ton of money. This means, in turn, that you can have an online course that is able to be scaled because you love it, you get results, you get testimonials and you're proud to put it out there again and again. This is how you become an online course success story.

Speaker 1: 14:56

Thanks so much for listening today. I hope you love this episode. If you want to create your very own online course offer that's in high demand, head on over to loublakleyco forward slash bootcamp to sign up for my free five day bootcamp starting next Monday, the 31st of July. Have a great rest of the week and I hope to see you in the bootcamp next week. Thanks, course creators and go getters. You're incredible and I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you haven't done so already, make sure you hit subscribe in your podcast app so you don't miss an episode. If you'd like to find out more about what I offer, head across to loublakleycom. See you next time.