TUNE IN: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Stitcher
Our brains are wired to avoid any situations that lie outside our comfort zone. And if it had its own way, it would happily keep us on our sofa eating Cheetos all day instead of achieving the things we dream of. So if you’re waiting for the momentous day when you’re going to feel “ready” to launch your online course…we have some bad news for you: It’s not coming.
A lot of entrepreneurs (especially those with perfectionist tendencies) tend to hold back on selling their valuable courses, thinking they need to finish every module and get everything “just right”. Yes, there are some things you *must* have in place before you start selling. But Nicki and Kate are here to give you a gentle (but firm) nudge to let go of that perfectionism and put your course out into the world sooner than you might think!
Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!
A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[2:24] You *can* start selling your course before you finish building it. But you do need a good understanding of all the elements that you will be building out, as well as who your target audience is and how your course is going to benefit them.
[4:10] If you start selling your course before it’s finished, it can be a great incentive to finish that program because people are purchasing it and getting to the point where you have to release the new modules.
[5:04] When you have people in your program and start engaging with customers, they’ll give you valuable information to help inform what you might want to add or change to your program further down the line.
[6:32] It’s hard to anticipate what will trip people up without launching your course first. In all of our courses at Nicki K Media, we go through questions asked in the Facebook groups and record a quick coaching note or add additional resources to make things as clear as possible.
[9:10] One of the tools that we found really helpful lately is Microsoft Clarity, which is a free user behavior analytics tool that helps you understand how users are interacting with your website through session replays and heatmaps.
[11:52] Inevitably, there comes a point where you can’t progress the way you want to without that external information from your audience. And once you do start selling, the money coming in and the positive feedback you get will motivate you even more!
[12:52] When launching your offer, YOU can control how many people you have coming in. You don’t have to promote it to your entire list or run ads right away. You can test your messaging and other elements like price with a warm audience first.
[14:21] The longer that you wait to put your offer out into the world, the longer it will be before you can make changes and optimize your offer. For example, you won’t be able to come up with upsells or downsells until people have had the opportunity to buy.
[16:08] Entrepreneurs often have a lot of ideas. But if you split your focus across building multiple offers, you will end up slowing everything down. Focus on building one course and making that solid.
[18:44] Before selling your course, make sure you have a clear plan of what will be in it, who your target audience is, and what their transformation will be. Provide customers with something to get started with after they purchase (ideally the first couple of modules) and establish a timeline for when you’ll deliver the rest of the content.
[22:32] It’s helpful to think of building your course in phases, starting from the first initial modules, through to the bells and whistles like design elements. This helps to prioritize what you need to sell versus getting in your own way by putting up unnecessary roadblocks.
[26:48] Students will appreciate it when you add things after they have purchased which will help them be even more successful. It shows that you care about their success and builds loyalty in your brand.
[28:18] You do not have to work on building your list before you have something to sell. In fact, if you spend all of your time building your list before you have a solution to give people, you’ll end up making your audience go stale.
Mentioned on this Episode
Related Links
- Why You Need to Give Your Customers Deadlines
- 4 Lessons Learned from Starting a Business
- Best Platform to Host an Online Course
- Best Software to Create an Online Course
Must-Hear Takeaways
As with every episode, we highly encourage you to listen to the entire conversation! But, here are a few of the highlights:
“The great thing is that nothing has to be written in stone, you can make changes. But the longer you wait to put your offer out into the world, the longer it’s going to be until you can make those changes, before you can optimize and before you can make more money and help more people.” – Nicki
“It’s outside of your current comfort zone and the thing is, all of the things that we want in life are outside of our comfort zones. Having a greater impact on the world, working with more people, helping more people, earning more income, it’s all outside of our comfort zone and anytime we’re trying to get out of our comfort zone, that resistance is going to kick up and this is a prime way that it happens, saying “no, no no, it has to be completely done and it has to be completely perfect before I can begin selling it” and that is absolutely not true. Like we said, you do need to know what you’re selling, you have to have a good plan for it but first of all, it does not need to be completely done and second of all, it absolutely does not have to be perfect. Also because what is perfect? Perfect is not a real thing.” – Nicki
“When you have students in the program and you’re still adding things after they have purchased that will help them be more successful, students love that. I mean don’t do this artificially, don’t hold stuff back but it’s a great way to show them how much you care about them and you care about their success. It’s a great way to continue to build that relationship between you and your students.” – Nicki
Get an *Exclusive* Bonus Recording!
Tell us what you love about the podcast and what you hope to hear next! When you do, you can get access to an exclusive bonus recording with must-hear tips to take your business from 6- and multi-6 figures to 7 figures and beyond.
Plus, you’ll get your copy of the 6 to 7 Figures (and Beyond) Workbook for Ambitious Business Owners, and our team’s suggested reading list packed with ideas to help you move your business further, faster!
Get all the details on how to get your recording >>
About the Energize Your Online Business Podcast
Are you sick of the stress, chaos, and risk of trying to keep up with the next big thing in digital marketing? And what about the confusion of trying to scale, build a team, and still try to make sure your business is worth the effort it takes to run it? You are not alone.
Join Nicki Krawczyk, a 20-year marketing veteran and owner of a multi-seven-figure-per-year digital training company and her co-host Kate Sitarz as they bust through the online business industry echo chamber to talk about how to make consistent, predictable sales and how to scale your business with simple and stress-free systems.
Subscribe now to be the first to hear new episodes every other Tuesday!