In today’s episode the queen of online courses, Amy Porterfield, shares the answer to the question: Are courses too saturated? (Wait until you hear her answer.) She also explains the 5 essential types of courses – along with pros and cons and examples of each one. This episode is so meaty – it’s almost like getting free personal advice from Amy!
Links mentioned in this episode:
Get freebies from Amy at https://www.CourseCreatorsHQ.com/amy
Listen to Amy’s entire episode at https://AmyPorterfield.com/279
I can't wait to share today's episode with you. I feel like we need a drum roll because the queen of digital courses, Amy Porterfield is here to share her secrets for successful courses. They are so good. I know you'll be hanging on every word she says. So let's get to Welcome to the course creators, HQ podcast, helping you navigate the latest techniques for creating and marketing online courses.
And now here's your host Julie Hood. Hey, Hey, Hey, there today's episode is episode four, Amy Porterfield secrets to the five best types of digital courses. And it is so special. I'm so thrilled that she agreed to join us, but there are two things I need to share with you. First, number one, Amy is right in the middle of a launch right now of her digital course academy.
And I've partnered with her to share some of her best free resources that she's giving away right now. And they are amazing. So I did want you to go to coursecreatorshq.com/amy that's coursecreatorshq.com/amy. And you can get ahold of them. It includes her ultimate course creation starter kits, and you can take her free masterclass on how to create and launch a profitable digital course from scratch.
So depending on when you're listening to this episode, you may or may not still have access, but I'll be sure to put the latest and greatest from Amy on that page. And then the second thing I need to tell you is that this episode is actually an excerpt from Amy's podcast. So I need to set it up for you. You're jumping in where she talks about a question she was asked about whether courses in the course market is too saturated.
And just wait until you hear her answer. She also explains the five essential types of courses along with pros and cons and examples of each one. And this episode is so meaty. It's almost like getting free advice from Amy. So if you want to hear the entire episode, just go to Amy porterfield.com/279. And you can listen to the entire episode and not just the excerpts that I pulled out for you.
So thanks so much for joining us today. Jump in, let's hear from Amy. She said, Amy, isn't this a saturated market. Now aren't digital courses like everybody's doing them. You see them everywhere. Like how can you even stand out when everyone is marketing their digital courses now? And I told her two things. I said, one, the reason why you're starting to see digital courses everywhere is because they work.
Let's pay attention to the trend that is very hot right now. Traditional education is literally vanishing for digital course education. And the reason for that, you can guess the ease of use the fact that you get to listen or watch anywhere at any time. The barrier to entry is almost non-existent. Everyone tends these days to have an iPhone or an iPad or a computer to listen or to watch.
And also there's something about the fact that you get to learn on your terms, and that means going at your own pace. That means going back again and again, if you don't get something like you get to shape your education, when you are watching a digital course, and also the price that the price of a digital course is incredibly, incredibly lower than let's say the traditional formal education that many of us got like me going to college.
I could learn a whole heck of a lot in digital courses that I never ever learned in college. Now let's not say that digital courses can replace college. Cade is my son is 17 and we are one more year of high school. And then he goes away to college and it's so very fun looking at the colleges and, and going back east, he's thinking about some back east schools,
and I love that experience of college, but what I might not tell him just yet is I think that all of the most valuable lessons about building a business and what he can do to be an entrepreneur, if that's the route he wants to go can be learned from people that have gone before him that have created digital courses. I really do believe that.
So I feel as though digital courses are just taking over, and that is one of the reasons why you're seeing them everywhere. Number two, it, when you ask, but isn't it too saturated Amy, like everyone's doing a digital course, the course I want to make it's been done. And what I say is, has it been done by, you know,
it's never been done by you when Jenna was interviewing me. I said, Jenna, you and I both have list building courses that have generated over a million dollars for each of us. We overlap in some of the content we teach. Our styles are very different. Our personalities are very different. Jenna and I are very, very different people. The way we approach business,
the way we communicate. I mean, the girls in bikinis and underwear online, we all know that I don't have the courage to do that. Like we're different people and we attract different audiences and that's why it works. I never, ever, ever care what somebody else is doing in terms of digital courses. I just put blinders on and run my own race.
And you, my friend can do the same stop paying attention to who else has a course about what you want to teach because no one can teach it like you Mike drop, right? Yes. Amen. Okay. So now that we have ironed that out, we are moving on and I'm going to break down the five types of digital courses, and then we're going to make sure you take that quiz.
And if you have any questions about these digital courses, hit me up in a DM on Instagram. So I'm at AmyPorterfield on Instagram, and I do my very best to get back to people there. And I love that platform. So if you have a question about your digital course, come on over to Instagram and let me know, okay, let's get to it.
Let's start at the top with the five most profitable types of digital courses. First up the workshop course, I have been dying to talk about this type of digital course. I've never talked about it before. And the reason I want to jump into the workshop course for you is because if you are brand new to the online marketing world, if you're just getting started,
you have a few hundred people on your email list. You are Abilene in the world, of course, creation. You're not sure how to get started. A workshop course is something you can do in 30 days or less. So let me break it down for you. A workshop course is a two hour ish training, either live or recorded. I encourage live that promises instant clarity and results.
Now that might sound like a webinar, right? Here's the big difference people are paying to learn from you. It's not a free webinar they're paying. And then they're going to get access to the training. Even if the price point is low, there's a different mindset involved when someone has skin in the game and they've actually paid for it. When people pay,
they pay attention. So you tend to see quick results from those who paid for it, your workshop, because they're serious about it getting into action. So the goal with a workshop course, this is important for you to hear it usually addresses an immediate problem. That's keeping your audience stuck. You can also use a workshop course to bridge the gap and solve a problem that stopping people from moving on,
to work with you in a bigger capacity. So I'm going to give you my favorite example of this, and then I'm going to help you with some pros and cons. So you can see a little bit more of how this workshop course could work, or maybe not work, take the quiz. And I'll tell you if this is right for you, but I'm going to break it down anyway.
So my favorite example is Sarah Jane Case of any program in coffee on Instagram. Now, any of you who know Sarah Jane Case love her already, right? She not the cutest thing in the world. Well, she started this Instagram account, Enneagram and coffee, and it blew up instantly. Like this thing was on fire from the day she started. And she talks in a lot of really funny ways,
but it's also very valid. She talks about the different types of enneagram. And so if you've never taken, the assessment could look it up and learn more. But many of you already know what it is. And for the record, I'm a two, I'm the helper. And this is another one of those assessments that I wanted to be someone else.
I wanted to be a three, the achiever I've taken it multiple times. I'm a two, but here's the deal. She created this account. And then she realized that a lot of people were getting tripped up with what their Enneagram number was. And she realized there's a lot of bogus information out there as well. And so people were thinking they were one thing,
but they really weren't. And if you care anything about Enneagram, you care what your number is. And so she said, look, I'm going to do a workshop or I will help you to figure out what is your Enneagram type I'm going to help you figure it out. I'm going to give you some details and information that you might not know already to help you really hone in on this.
And so this is her workshop course, and it was really inexpensive, but really valuable. And so first of all, really successful, but what I loved about her workshop course, she might not call it that, but I'm calling it that what I loved about it is that it addressed an area where her community was stuck. Now, imagine if you get unstuck and you're really clear on what your number is,
then you might say, Sarah Jane, what else you got? I want to explore this more. Now that I know I'm a two. Now that I'm very clear, help me understand how I can apply this to my life, how I could be better in my relationships and my communication and my job, how I can navigate through the world at a higher level,
knowing what I am and how I can apply it. What else you got? Well, maybe she has a course or a membership site or a mastermind on the backend of the workshop, or if she doesn't, maybe she'll create one. And so this workshop course is a quick hit. It's easy for you to create because it's just a two hour training or somewhere around there.
And it's a low barrier to entry for your audience to actually pay you to become a customer. And the questions they ask on a workshop course could be so incredibly valuable for your next course, which will have more substance. You can charge more. It's more of a roadmap to big transformation. This is just a quick hit. So let's talk about some of the pros and cons.
The pros are ease of execution. This is a biggie because you can get it up and running quickly and likely you already have the information in you. So it just kind of flows out quickly. Also, it doesn't require extensive marketing campaigns or funnels. You can just post about it on social email, your list about it, maybe do a podcast about it or a blog post,
maybe run some ads to it. If you want to do that, and you could fill it up that way. Typically it's sold between $10 and $200. So it's an easy yes, for most people and creating and launching this type of course will help you prove to yourself that you've got what it takes to create digital courses. So this is very much a stepping off point.
Now let's talk about the cons because a workshop course is great, but it's not a foundational piece in your business. So first of all, there's a limit to what you can teach in two hours, which means there's a limit to the results you can get for somebody, right? And the one I want you to pay close attention to is you're not charging a lot.
It's not going to be a huge money maker, but it can be a little cash injection into your business. It's not the end all be all. It's really just the start of your course creation journey. And so if you want to build a digital course business, much like mine, you're not going to just do it on a workshop course. It's just you getting your feet wet and you connecting with your audience in a way that they're like,
whoa, this is good. What else you got? So you're giving them a small win, but it's something that they're stuck on, or they have a desire to, to feel joy in this certain area. And they just want that quick hit. So it's a great, great type of course, and anyone who's ready for a course can do it.
But at the same time, there's a lot of my students that I say, okay, you could do a workshop course, but there's something more substantial that you can do. So let's move on to the next type of digital course. That is definitely more substantial. And that's a starter course. So a starter course is more in depth than a workshop course,
but not hugely more in-depth. So it's a jumping off point where you help your students get started in your area of expertise. Your training will give your students just enough information and support to help them begin moving forward. Think of it as your way to help them kickstart their momentum. So you're promising more detail and more instruction and more results than you would with a workshop course.
And you're likely charging more as well for a workshop course. You could charge as little as 20 bucks. You wouldn't do that for a starter course. And so let me give you an example of a starter course, for those of you who have been with me for a while, you might have heard this one, but it's so good that I love to use it as an example,
because it really paints the picture. I have a student, her name is Melissa Norris. She used to be a pharmacy tech by day and by night or in her other life. She really loved to teach people about homesteading. She was raised as a homesteader. So somebody that raises their own cattle and they have chickens and they do canning and they have gardens that are sustainable for them to live off of.
Like, it's a way of life. And Melissa, if you're listening to this, you're like Amy you're butchering it. But hopefully I did it a little bit of justice, but most people know a little bit about homesteading. So she, from a very young age with taught how to, can her fruits and vegetables canning. And so when she decided you need to start branching off and maybe wanting to do something different than being a pharmacy tech,
because she was driving into work every day, driving home every day, her kids were at home, she wanted to be at home with her kids. And so she started to dabble in, in this different world. And one of the very first courses she made was how to, can your fruits and vegetables. She called it home canning with competence. And so it was a starter course.
How do you get started with canning? It? Wasn't how to become a homesteader. That's a big topic that covers so much, right? But she wanted to dip her toe in the water and become a course creator. And she also wanted her students to get started in this world just to get a taste of what it's like. But there's a lot of things that go into canyon.
So it wasn't a workshop course, a quick hit. It was, let me show you from a to Z, how to get started with canning, but I'm not going to go deep into other homesteading topics and areas. So this is a perfect example of what a starter course might look like. She charged $97 for it. So I think that's a perfect price for a starter course,
and it was really successful and it branched out into other things that she does in her business now. All right. So I love, I love, love, love a starter course. I encourage a lot of my students to start here. And there's still that ease of execution. It's easier to get started with than some of the other courses I'm going to tell you about next.
And also it's one of the pros is you can charge more than a workshop course. So I have made lots of money with a $97 course. Still the barrier to entry is super low. It's an easy, yes, but it's more substantial than let's say a $20 course. Also it serves as a strong starting point for your customer journey. They're likely going to want more from you even after that starter course.
Now, one of the cons is that the curse of knowledge is not your friend. When it comes to a starter course, you're going to want to add a whole heck of a lot. And I teach my students, we're going to hold back. We're not going to include everything in the kitchen sink here. We're going to hold back and just give them what they need to know for this one area.
So something to think about, all right, moving on. The next type of profitable digital course is the spotlight course. Now a spotlight course, dives deep into just one main area. This type of course is ultra niche and offers specific and detailed information. Typically via a step-by-step framework with a spotlight course, you'll help your students produce very specific results in just one area.
So one of my favorite examples of a spotlight course is from my student Kelly, and she's a yoga teacher and she's also a business coach. So she helps other yoga instructors build their businesses online. And so one of her spotlight courses was how to set up a successful yoga website. So she doesn't teach everyone in the world how to set up a website.
She's going for yoga instructors that are building their businesses. And there are some nuances and strategies that they need to know to set up a successful yoga website that will enable them to build a prominent online presence and also help them attract more people that are a perfect fit for their style of yoga and yoga studio. And so this spotlight course is just one little sliver of the different types of strategies that Kelly teaches.
She charges $197 for it, and it's a huge hit. So I love a spotlight course is probably one that most people won't start out with, but you definitely can. It's a nice supplement to another course that you might have like a bigger signature course, which I'm going to talk about next. So one of the pros is that a spotlight course is a great way to gain authority in your niche and grow from there.
And you can charge more for a spotlight course, Kelly charge 1 97. You could charge usually as much as 500 bucks for a spotlight course. And that makes sense because you are promising results in one very specific area that likely your audience is like, please just help me figure out this one thing so I can move on. Now, one of the cons is that you are only focusing on this one thing.
So as course creators, we want to talk about everything. That's one thing I do with my students. When I help them create an outline inside my program, digital course academy, I help them keep coming back to let's take out the stuff we don't need. Let's take out any fluff. Let's take out the kitchen sink that you've added in there and let streamline it more because that is the trend of what's working with digital courses right now.
People just, just give me what I need. Don't give me anything else. I don't have the time or the energy or the bandwidth. So that's important. So a spotlight course will laser in, but one of the challenges with creating it as a course creator is you've got to be really diligent, not to veer off into what I call an entrepreneurial rabbit hole,
where you're going to want to go into something else, save it for later. Okay. The next type of digital course is a signature course. Now this is the Mac daddy of all courses. And even some of my newbie students like to start here. So I'll just put it out there that if I looked at thousands and thousands of students that I've served,
I think this is the most popular for those that are just starting out in their business. Those have been at it for a while and those that are super seasoned and they want to add another course to the mix. So a signature course is very popular. And with a lot of my students, I say, let's not start here because it takes a lot of time and effort,
but you all are achievers. You all are hustlers. You're like Amy does shut it. This is where I need to start. So go on with your bad self, whatever you want to do, I'm going to support. So let me tell you what it is. A signature course is your complete comprehensive system, aside from a certification course, which I'm going to tell you about next it's the most in-depth course you can create it's specific and detailed.
It includes your entire framework from start to finish and can lead to a total transformation for your students. Big transformation. Typically you charge more for this $500 all the way up to $2000, $3,000. So this is your framework. So let me give you an example of what I mean by framework. Let's say you are a weight loss coach and you work with one-on-one clients and you have a process.
You take them through from start to finish. All right, here's what we start with in phase one. And then once you've moved past that, we'll go into phase two and this is what it looks like. And then in phase three, this is what we do. So you've got a framework that you teach to your one-on-one clients. You take that framework and you teach it to many.
Now the one thing that many people get stuck with when they're thinking about doing that, moving from one-on-one work into a digital course is they think now pay attention. If you're multitasking, come back to me. This is a big limiting belief that a lot of people think with digital courses, any of you that are coaches, consultants, service-based providers. You have the thought that yes,
but what I do with my one-on-one clients will not translate into a course. I have to do it one-on-one they have to be sitting with me or on zoom and I have to talk to them and I need to know exactly about their business or their life or their situation before I can put them through my process. Not true. I want you to really challenge yourself on that.
One of my favorite students is Lauren Messiah and Lauren I've talked about her before is a stylist, and she would travel all over LA and she'd take these big, heavy clothes racks to client after client, after client she'd shop for them. And if you know, LA driving around in LA and taking clothing racks here and there sounds like a nightmare to most of us.
And although her job was cool, just how she had to operate had to have been exhausting. I know it was cause she said it was. And so she said, I got to the point that I didn't want to do that anymore, but I know styling. I know how to help women look their best and do it on their own. And so what she did is she decided to create the personal style university,
where she walks you through her proven step-by-step framework to help you find your personal style, detox your closet, and build a wardrobe that fits your goals and your lifestyle. So here's the thing. Lauren had a partner that said, oh no, no, no. That's not going to translate into a course. What we do with our one-on-one clients, we cannot teach in a digital course,
she's a bad ass. So she said, ah, let me give it a try. She charged $997 for her personal style university. And she hit six figures in her launches. She did multiple launches. She still launches. And she actually, because she's been at this for awhile, just branched out to create a membership experience. You all know how I feel about first creating the course and then moving into membership experiences,
right? It's exactly what I do in my own business. So the doors open up when you have a digital course, the possibilities open up. When you have a digital course, what you can do with the digital course and how it can shape your business and how it can be the cornerstone of your business. I mean, come on. It's just so incredible if you give it a shot.
So again, Lauren and so many of my students like to start just kick things off with the signature course and I'm here for it. I support them all the way. I will tell you that one of the pros to this as you can make more money, another pro is you can get really big results for your students. And another pro is you get to use the framework you're already using.
So, so many pros. And that's why I think my students gravitate toward this one. A con is that it's a lot of work. I am never ever going to sugar coat that creating courses doesn't take time effort, a lot of bandwidth and a lot of focus. It is worth every, every minute of all of that, but it is a lot of work.
And so it could take 60, 90 days to create your signature course. And then about 30 days to put together your assets to launch it. But that flies by, I can't even believe at the time of this recording. We're more than halfway through 2019 like time flies. So if you hear 30, 60, 90 days and think that's too long, oh my gosh,
are you in this for the long haul? Are you in this to make your business fantastic? So 10 years down the road, you're still in it. If you shy away from creating something substantial in your business, because 90 days feels too long, you are not, your head is not in the game in the way that will allow you to be making money years from now in a way that you love it.
So that's just a little tough love from me that you've got to put this into perspective. We are not looking for a quick hit. We are not looking to get rich quick, fast, right? I mean, that's not us. And so if you're willing to do the work, you could create magic like Lauren did with her style university. Just putting it out there.
I know I'm getting a little extra passionate, but digital courses are my thing. It's what I love the most to teach. So I just never want you to miss out on that opportunity. Okay? So to round this all out with the fifth type of most profitable digital course, let's talk about the certification course. So a certification course is as in-depth,
as it gets, you're basically teaching others, your methodology or process in such a detailed way that your audience will be able to teach that to others. So a really great example of this is Brooke Castillo's life coach school, where she actually certifies you as a life coach. And her process takes a year to get through it's over $17,000 or $18,000. But now you have a certification and there's a lot of clout behind a certification,
but I would never ever encourage you to start here. In fact, I'd love to see you start with any of the other four types of courses I told you about, and then maybe stay in the game for a few years and then move to a certification course. This is something that I wouldn't recommend till you have a lot of success and results under your belt,
and then you're ready to certify others to do so. So it's, if I say signature courses, the Mack daddy, this is even beyond that. And I do not teach people how to create certification courses. I teach inside digital course academy, how to teach a workshop course, it's the brand new bonus for all new students of DCA. I teach you how to create a starter course,
how to create a spotlight course or how to create a signature course. So those are the four that I specialize in, but here's the deal to wrap this up again. You've got options and you really do want to think about what type of course is going to be best for you, your personality, your skillset, your knowledge, also what your audience needs and wants,
and also where you're at in your business right now. So there you have it, wasn't that training. So good. Which type of course are you thinking about creating? Have you picked one out yet? I can't wait to hear all about what you're going to create, but in the meantime, make sure you get the freebies from Amy. At coursecreatorshq.com/amy, and then take her masterclass. So you can take the next step towards creating your online course. I want to send a special thank you to Amy for sharing her podcast with me and a shout out to Allison on her team who made all this possible. And I want you to have a terrific week. I can't wait to hear about what kind of course you are going to create.