I'm so excited to be sharing this with you because I know many of you want to create a course, but you're overwhelmed with all-the-things. Well we're going to simplify it today and accomplish some major things with one mini course.
Creating a mini course:
- Allows you to become the course creator you want to be
- Helps you build your email list
- Builds a main piece of your client attraction system
- Helps you make space to start building the platform where you most want to be
- And you'll learn so much about all the moving parts, but in a small and controlled way to reduce the overwhelm
Yesterday (click here to read 3 Ways Your Business Can Benefit from an Online Course), I mentioned that if you've never created an online course before (or it's time to create a new freebie or introductory offer), it's best to start with a mini course. It is way less overwhelming and you get a REAL sense of all the moving parts and the time it actually takes to create, design, record, automate, launch, invite, enroll, and manage your course.
The other point I want to make, and I really want to stress this so bring your full awareness to this moment right now -- creating a free or low-priced introductory offer IS THE BEST WAY to consistently bring in new clients and customers. It is part of a bigger client attraction system that all entrepreneurs should have in place AND it's a heavy lifter.
Did you see that?
There are a few strategies that work in attracting your ideal clients: 1) a webinar, 2) a challenge, 3) a masterclass, and 4) a mini course.
I urge you to choose the format and start creating your free offer now.
AND YOU'RE IN LUCK
Why?
Because I'm sharing with you today, a way you can create your mini course that also helps you build another platform you want to leverage, like a YouTube channel, a podcast, or a blog. I'm always looking for ways to streamline or find multiple uses for the things I create. This allows me to accomplish more things with the action I take and I'm becoming more efficient as I practice.
This minimalist strategy I've created supports the lifestyle business model.
START WITH ONE STRATEGY: BUILD YOUR PLATFORM & BUILD YOUR LIST
Want to create something for your audience fast that will solve a problem for your audience? Have you created a blog post series in the past? Have a blog series in mind? Any type of series can become a week-long course by delivering one post per week either via email or via a platform like Thinkific.com, Kajabi.com, or if you use WordPress you could install Thrivethemes.com and build a free course using their Thrive Apprentice plugin.
A mini course is a great way to introduce new people to your offerings. It's low risk for them because it's free or a low price. Then as they go through the offer they will get to know you. You have opportunities to build a deeper relationship with them. And then you can invite them into your other offers.
We're going to cover one strategy here, but feel free to adapt it to your needs and whatever platforms you have to deliver the content. If you're more interested in building a YouTube channel instead of a blog, then create videos instead of written articles. If a podcast is on the horizon for you, consider creating audio files to deliver this content. This gives you practice in writing, recording video, or audio as you put this together. Ultimately, you will take all of the content and use it to create your first course.
Here we go ...
- Start with A Plan – Writing a series is a lot easier if you start with a complete outline for the series. Ensure that it’s something your audience wants and needs to know then make an outline. You want the series to have at least 7 to 10 posts.
- Set up An Email List for The Course – Knowing that you’ll eventually turn the blog series into a course, go ahead and set up an autoresponder email list for the course right away so that you’ll be ready when the time comes.
- Write an Introduction to the Series – Using your outline, write a series introduction post so that your audience will see this information as soon as they sign up. The introduction should tell them about the series, what to expect, and why they don’t want to miss it.
- Keep Each Post to The Point – Using your outline, each week write the new post trying to keep it to about 500 to 750 words long. You want each part to be straight to the point and full of valuable and actionable information.
- Post Each Part Weekly – Try not to post each part of the series more than a week apart. That will give you a long time to write each post so that you can make them more concise, informational, and valuable to the readers. But it's also close enough that your subscribers won't forget about you.
- Give a Review of Last Week & A Preview of What’s Next – For each post, you want to recap what they learned last time, and then always give them a preview of what they’ll learn next time. This helps keep the information front of mind.
- Create a Wrap Up Post – Remember that you need to also create a final wrap up post after the meat of the blog post series has been delivered. The recap is similar to the introduction post in that it tells everyone what you’ve taught them and gives them action steps to take now.
- Remember to Link Internally to Each Post – On your blog, you’ll want to link to each post in the order in which they've been published. Go back to each post and add the link once it’s ready so that readers can easily read all the posts in the series. Plus, internal linking is great for SEO.
- Compile into a Course – Once the series is done, you can now compile the entire thing into a course. The course can be delivered via email autoresponder that you set up, or you can make it more formal by using course software like Teachable.com, Thinkific.com, or the others I mentioned above.
- Add Supporting Documentation – To make the course stand out, add worksheets, quizzes, checklists, cheat sheets, and other supporting documentation that will add value to the series that you’re turning into a course.
- Add Value – Depending on whether it’s free or not, you can add even more value such as: weekly webinars, Q & A, a Facebook Group, and more. Whatever ways you can add value for your audience will not only increase their satisfaction but ultimately, your income.
There are many ways to make this more valuable such as bringing on a different expert for each week to conduct a webinar that goes along with the supporting documentation or by hosting a Q & A Zoom each week. How much time you spend will depend on whether it’s paid or a free AND what your goal is. But, as you see, it’s not hard to create content with the idea of turning it into a paid or free course later.
(**HINT: Much like what I'm doing with this breakthrough event!)
Please share in the Facebook group what you've learned about yourself and your business. I will be in the Facebook group every day to answer your questions and support your growth.
Till tomorrow,
Be brilliant.
Be imperfect.
And always, be you.
Melissa