In today’s episode, James Lam has been working in marketing and creating courses for the past 15 years… and since he is “in the trenches” with us, he’s sharing the lessons he has learned along the way. Listen in and get the scoop on why you should: 1. Fail fast & fail quickly. 2. Be specific in everything… in your brand and your course. 3. Get help from the experts. 4. Don’t let perfection be the enemy of the done!
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Hello there everyone today. I am so excited to share a new type of episode with you. I'm interviewing course creators who are in the trenches with you to find out what they've learned along the way. And you won't believe what James Lam has to tell us all about today. 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. Today's Episode is episode five, James Lam's four essential lessons from the trenches, and I'm so glad you're listening. So let's hear what James has to share with us. Yes hello James. Well, you can call me James Guinea pig lamb. There you go. I'll be the Guinea pig and I'm totally okay with that because this is going to be awesome.
Well, I so appreciate you doing this with me. I think this is going to be fantastic for the listeners and I love chatting with you. We always have such a good time. So thank you for doing this. Listen, This is your zone of genius, right? This is, this is what you do, Julie. So the fact that you think it's a better format,
I bet it totally is. So let's, let's get to it, but I mean, let's try it. All right. And so I know you have been at it for a long time. You've been in marketing for over 15 years. So you definitely been in the trenches and you're currently working with healers who aren't being heard to help, I love that, healers,
who aren't being heard to help them get their marketing and get their messages out into the world. And so one more thing I want to tell everyone before we start is that one of the things I really love about you is how spot on you can be with your advice. You're like very targeted to your clients. And it's really, really good because you're not just like that inmate instructor to give them the nuts and bolts.
You're like this cheerleader supporter for people when things get tough. So thank you for being such a good marketer because you're going to have some great stuff to share with us. I Appreciate that. Here's something interesting, right? So we're going to get to the wisdom already, even though I don't have very much wisdom, but you know, the what's, the easy part is the tactical part,
right? When you say, what should I do when you say you should price it 197, that's easy. What's difficult is the mindset. And so a lot of the mastermind is that a lot of stuff you're talking about is all centered around mindset. It's all centered around what you believe. What is your, what are your belief patterns? What has,
what has led you to them? Right? And this is what I finding. And you would understand this better than anybody, Julie, this is what I'm understanding. What's masterminds. Now is the development of entrepreneurship is less about the tactics, more about where you are in personal development and your mindset. Wow. Yes. That's so huge. And I don't think everyone,
especially when they get started, that they know about that. Do you think, Oh, of course not. Of course not. And this is because of like, I think school is amazing. We just had this, I have a five-year-old that finished her first day of grade one, which is awesome. But school actually teaches you that it's bad to fail.
Think about it. They do. Schoo. teaches you it's bad to fail. Right? But at the same time, what is the best thing for entrepreneurship is to fail because you know what not to do. There's only a finite number of options for everything you do. And you figure out pretty quickly what you should not do. And believe me, most entrepreneurship grows like that.
You hear about all these stories of Mark Zuckerberg or, or, or, you know, Bill Gates or a Warren buffet. But what you don't hear in these romantic romantic in terms of like, I struggled and I won, but there's so many failures along the way, right? And somehow there's summary in like eight years later. And you're like eight years later,
you just read that as, as, as three words. But think about eight years, eight years is a long time, right? Fail to fail and fail and fail and fail. And then it says eight years, bill gates got this contract with, I don't even know. Right. I haven't read it, but got this contract with so-and-so. And you're like,
wow, all I need to do is get that contract. But it doesn't work that way. Team. You need to fail eight years to be able to have the wisdom of what not to do to create the prior to that. People actually want to be able to make the connections to open the store. So there you go, we don't even need to do the rest of the podcast,
that's it. Or the rest of the report. That's the only lesson everybody needs. Right? So someone said, someone says, fail quickly, fail quick and fail fast. Right? Fail quickly, fail fast. There you go. Yes. That took me a long time to learn. I agree with you. So, so, but tell us why you're working with healers.
I'm so curious. It's a great daughter, but what is hers? One thing I learned and, and you will learn this at some point in time team. And if you have a business, any business, you need to be specific. And if you are specific in the beginning, you can become a leader in the field and you will grow your audience.
If you try to grow your audience first and then be specific, it is never going to work. And I love working with healers because what we talked about just now, right? We talked about mindset and we talked about how important it is for success. And it has been a key plank for me. And it sounds like a key playing for you,
Julie. And I'm pretty sure anybody who you interview, who is super successful, they will say, yeah, I had a coach. I had a mentor. I did a course. I had to get over X, Y, Z to be able to do it. So I feel like I love working with healers because there needs to be more healing in the world because we need more successful entrepreneurs,
small businesses, mindful dads, mindful mothers, mindful children, and the list goes on and on. But I love it because of specifics, which means I can grow my clientele faster and it's so needed in the world. Oh, I love that because yes, we do need thank you for making the world a better place by helping all the healers. And so would that be one of the lessons you would say that's,
it's being specific and focusing on just a certain niche. Yeah, absolutely. And you know this better than anybody, Julie. So if you have questions, I mean, Julie is right here. She's smarter than I am, which is great. She'd been at the game for way longer than I have, but you, you have to be specific. And,
and I love that. I love specificity because all of a sudden it let, let me, let me, let me, let me put it this way. Right? At one point in time, I actually released a digital marketing course and Julie knows this. It's like eight and a half hour things, a monster. Right. And it's sitting on the shelf,
collecting dust. And part of the reason, because I was like, any small business can use this. Any healer can use this. Any entrepreneur can use this, but no one really resonated. Now when I started talking about, and this is only two weeks ago, when I started talking about healers, the number of people to come out of the woodwork and say,
I need that. And I haven't even finished it. I'm like, I'm like, I have this beta test for healers. Oh my God. I'm in, you know, like, like if people put up their hand and they are absolutely as though I'm not even trying to sell this thing and people are already really excited and saying, this is a great idea.
So it's almost like external validation. I love that. Yes. I'm so glad you said that because I think that's one of those really tough things. People don't want to exclude. So, you know, they don't want to exclude part of their audience. So if they can be specific though, they're going to resonate so much better. I love how you said that.
Yeah. And I think about like, Julie's probably gonna teach you about abundance versus scarcity mindset. And if she doesn't, I'm sure she has someone who can teach you about that. But that is, you know, we talked about training the mind and that's one of the biggest things you're going to learn abundance versus scarcity. Scarcity means you need to be broad to attract everybody because you think there's a limited pond to fish in,
efficient abundance mindset is there's infinite number of fish in this infinite ocean. And I have a small rowboat and all I have to feed is myself. Does that make sense? Yes. Yes. Fantastic. Okay. So tell us about the biggest thing you learned when you were creating a course, the one of the early ones that you were doing, oh,
Get help. Get help. You know, I had a, I had a business coach who, and we're still, we are still friends. He's coming to JVology life. If you know what that is, I dunno when you're going to release this, but it's where Julie and I met. And you know, one of the, he,
he said a few really good things. And one of the best things he said was entrepreneurs don't get overloaded with decision with workload. They get overloaded by decision load. Right. That's right. Right. So all of a sudden you get help with the course. And this is what I love about what you do. And what Amy does is that Amy says,
are you a starter course? Are you a spotlight course? Or your signature course? And what I thought it was, I am absolutely not even close to. So I thought it was a spotlight slash signature, like a "spotature", but no, I'm gonna start a course full on full end. And that allows me to price it accordingly. That also allows me to get rid of the impostor syndrome.
Right. Because all of a sudden, because I got help, I don't have to be like, I need to show all my chops here. And it is to show people how much knowledge I have and change the world. No, no, no, no, no, no, because it's start a course, you back up and you say, I just need to get people on the path.
That is my job. My job is to take all these people who are milling around like zombies and saying, you know what? You were going the wrong way. You need to go this way. And that's what the new course is all about. It's called attract an audience and intuitive marketing guide for healers. And it's all about finding your message and all about how do I use this message?
How do I make sure the tribe is engaged? How do I make sure I speak to the right people? How do I make sure I'm not embarrassed about the message? Again, we're not talking anything tactical. We're talking about making sure you stand in your power. And that's the beautiful thing about introductory courses. Yes. They're academically easy. Yes. They're relatively cheap.
But to have the power to set something alight, oh My goodness. So when you get this ready, I want you to send me the link because I have all of these healers that are really, you know, talented and wonderful people, but they, they really don't know how to market it. So they need, they need you so desperately to share this message with them and to kind of help them is the goal to help them figure out where to focus or is the goal to figure out what to say or both,
or. A little bit of both and a little bit like time to power up, you know, and Julie, you know, all about this. A lot of us tend to quote unquote self-sabotage. I think there's a certain type, a certain amount of, I don't want to say hypocrisy, but a little bit of hypocrisy. And the fact that healers help other people get out of the woods,
find their path and live in their power. And healers themselves are the ones that are stuck in the woods, not in their power and embarrassed to say what they are. Right. So I think it's, I think there's a little bit of hypocrisy, but it's because you care so much and we Teach what that, what we need to learn. Right.
So, you know, one of the things we were talking about is just being a little bit further ahead than your students. So obviously you're way past that. Cause you've got 15 years of experience to help them. So thank goodness. But, but let me point this out, Julie, I still have imposter syndrome a hundred percent. Almost everyone does.
Of course. Is that from except maybe Amy Porterfield and even she, I bet she would say she does too, to be honest. Yeah. At least Sometimes like when she's doing something new me, maybe, I don't know. Maybe she's pretty good, But this is, this is, you know, we, we talked about a little bit about the learnings from this course,
and this is sort of the last one I'm going to lead you to this anyways, Julie, you know, and I, and I put down here, don't try to release the perfect course right away. And I want to address that a little bit because me included, okay. I'm a hundred percent liable for this as well. But a lot of the times we used I'm working on the course or I'm working on myself or I don't have my messages.
Right. Why? Because we're scared because you're scared to release it because you are worried. People are going to judge you. And so you live in purgatory, you live in between, I've released it and I haven't released it. And you're kind of like, I'm releasing. It's like, it's like forever. You know, the, the, the device that you pick up,
it says patent pending. It's been patent pending for 25 years. You know, like all of it does not work quickly. But the difference is that it's not the patent office that is slowing you down. It's you make a decision. If it's the wrong decision, make another decision, but try something. This is the year to say yes to things.
So if you weren't there and you were almost there, get a plan, get help, speak to experts. I don't care what it is. This is your time to rise, stand in your power. But to do that, you have to take a risk. Oh My goodness. So would you, what kind of risks would you say you're jumping into this year?
I'm jumping into a lot of risks. I'm all about the risk. Yeah. For better or for worse. So this year in April for, and Julie, you know this, but listeners don't in April. I sold my boutique marketing firm, which was like my, like my, my, you know, my, my, my two year old still sucks her thumb.
And that's what it feels like. Sometimes that business was terrible for me. And it's all for, for my teeth mental mindset, but, but it was comforting and I sold it. And so, but if said yes to a lot, so we started a new business. I have a podcast, you know that Julie guest you've been a guest. Right?
Tell everybody the name of it so they can go listen. Sure. It's called three steps to thrive. The episode you want to watch is the one with Julia Hood, because that is an amazing one. Actually. That's a really good one. We talked about like 1992, I think. No, we were, we were back in the dark ages. Where is it now?
The dark ages? I don't know which one. It doesn't matter. But you know, I started a podcast. I've started teaching the digital marketing course, like I said. So I pivoted, right. So I do something else. I hired my first employee, which has been awesome. We're not making anything, but we're, we're taking a Gander.
Cause I think this is a winning product. I signed up to be part of the JV lounge, like, and I'm making all sorts of connections. So I think this is going to be a good year. Has anything, has everything gone? Perfect. No. And, and, and it never will. It never will. Yeah. Why do we think as entrepreneurs that it needs to go.
Perfect. Where does that come from? Do you think, Let me ask you this question. This is a better question to ask you. My daughter entered a coloring contest and she lost. Okay. Okay. And it's devastating for a five-year-old right? Why, why? But this is why winning is so good because it's a chance of losing. If you had no chance of losing is winning as good.
You know, you're going to win. Who cares? Isn't it that whole like give everyone on the team, a trophy kind of thing. That it doesn't mean anything because everyone got one. Right? Right. Do you understand what I'm saying? That's the reason why entrepreneurship can be so rewarding, but so difficult too, because you try and you try and you fail and you fail.
And we were going back in circles. Cause we talked about this in the beginning, but it's so important because the minute things get difficult, that's when people pull the plug, when is the moment when you need to push on through, maybe you're right. Maybe you need to work harder. Maybe you need to stand up and say, you know what?
I was a hundred percent wrong. And, and you know, you know, Julie, even, even you and I I'll give you an example, you and I, we haven't had always a smoother sailing relationship and that's okay. Right. It's okay. Because I said, you know what? I'm super embarrassed about this. I'm so sorry. And you were like,
no, I'm sorry to bring it up. And I'm like, no, no, no, I'm sorry. It was super Canadian. Right. We were appalling. And now for the relationship, right, the relationship is stronger because of that honesty and that vulnerability. So that's okay. Right, Right, right. I love that. I love how you can take maybe a negative,
like the losing or having a difficult relationship. And it actually can be a positive for your business and can make things blossom income out of that experience. So I want to make sure that we kind of pulled together all these lessons for the audience? So the first one we were talking about was the failing fast. Right? We want to make sure that we definitely, I think that was a bonus lesson,
actually. Yes. You, if that's helpful, but I think that was the biggest lesson. So the lesson is fail fast, fail quickly. The next one is be specific. Okay. So be specific in, in everything, right? Your brand and your course get help for God's sake. Get help if that's a form of an employee, if that's a form of a mentor,
if that's in the form of, I don't care what it is, get help. And the last one is, you know, and I'm going to re quote Doug Sandler because he said, this first, don't let perfection be the enemy of
our schooling and our training, they teach us that we have to be perfect all the time. Did you get that message too? Yes. Yes, yes, yes. If you failed it, wasn't a lesson learned. No, it was, it was that you suck, that's basically it. Right. And you have to, you have to, you know,
and I'm still re reforming that too. Right? I I'm a straight a student or I was for awhile and you know, failure is not a, it's not a failure. Right? Failure. Success is built on the shoulders of multiple failures. If you want to think about it, that way, that is a better way to say it. Right.
Right. And you don't know what to work on until what you're doing now, either works or does it like the faster, you can figure that out the faster you can move along. Yeah. Yes. And you, you know that better than anybody. Think about the number of people who you graduated for courses. Right. And think about, you know,
you can guide them. And then I know you do a great job and you can tell them what you think, but until they actually try it, even you don't know, and you've had lots of experience doing this. Right. So Tell us how to get ahold of you because I know lots and lots of folks after they hear this, they're going to be like,
oh my goodness, he's hit on something that I need. I've got to learn to be a healer. And to do, you know, I'm a healer and I need to learn the marketing side of things. Yes. It depends on when you listen to this. So it is September 3rd, 2020. And I hope we're in the middle of COVID. I always say the middle of COVID.
I said the middle of COVID in April, but obviously that wasn't true. Oh, I thought we'd be done by now. So look, I easiest way. I'm going to actually send Julie a code. Cause I like tracking these things and Julie's been so good to me. So I don't know why I'm talking about you in the third person, buddy. I'm Julie,
I'm looking right at you. And I'm saying Julie, but look, if you, if you listen to this in time for October six team, it's $197 that I'm selling the course for normally it's $97 for the beta test, I promise you, you will get like minimum $2,500 of value on this thing. And I'm not just saying that, like, I believe in what I do.
I'm capping the course, add 12 people because I want really good feedback and testimonials. And if you want to be that person to join, I would love that forever. Now, moving forward, Julie and I have an affiliate deal. So I will give you the link for that when it comes out, but team, you wanted it to be a Guinea pig,
say, yes, this is your year to say yes to things. And October sinks running that I will let Julie know how to track it. And, and we'll go from there. Fantastic. And please, please send me the link because I want to tell everyone I have been in some of your masterminds and seeing kind of how you address your students and work with them.
And like I said, at the beginning, one of the things I love about what you do is you're very, very specific to the person that you're talking to. So it's not like general marketing advice. You get that right into what exactly they need. And then also the little cheerleader side of it too, because like you said, you can give them the price of their course,
but they need the motivation and the excitement and the, you can do this. That's what I love about how you work with folks. So Thanks, Julie. I really appreciate that you were in it for what it's worth. I know I'm a Guinea pig today and it seems to have worked well, but you were a Guinea pig for me. Cause I had never run a mastermind before.
Right. That was my first one. It was your first one? Oh, it was so good. Oh my goodness. Well, I can imagine what there'll be like once you get a few more under your belt. Cause that one was outstanding. Well, we'll See if I keep getting compliments like you, my, my head might be giant, and look
I appreciate you anyway. So thank you for this opportunity and thank you for allowing me to be here today. Yes. Thank you so much. Thanks for sharing all the lessons with everyone. I know they will pull a lot from that and have a great time on the sixth and congrats for having a first grader on her first day. I'm so excited for you. First full day.
You know, what's interesting, sorry. Side note is here's a way to show some personality is your mask. like the social dynamic of polka dots versus stripes, cat versus dog like that, that you have no clue about that we never grew up with is right. Literally in front of your face, right? Oh my goodness. So what did she have today?
What kind of mask? Oh, she has, you know, she, she's kind of an old soul. I have to tell you. So she has this like lace sounds terrible, but it's lace and it's 3d, but it's beautifully done. And like, I, I love it. Her friend has a dog, so, so obviously we're going to get like nose and like the whiskers and the dog mouth next.
Right? Yeah. I think it's really cool. And, and it's just nice for her to, to be around people. So there you go There, right. In a way to share hers, her personality in a whole new way. So yeah, It's almost like I'm wearing this for pride, right. And Lord knows we have enough problems in my opinion,
anyways, to, to get the kid to go to school confidently. And that's something that we're, we're working with her on, but if this helps and that's, that's awesome too. I Love it. Well, enjoy the first night and thank you so much for being on the show. I really appreciate it, James. You're very Welcome. And it's been such a pleasure and I'd love this format by the way.
This is so good. It's so easy to work with. Oh, Fantastic. Thank you. So you have a great night. So wasn't James so good. I so enjoyed chatting with him and I hope you enjoyed the experience of his lessons as much as I did. And if you'd like to follow up with James, go to coursecreatorshq.com/jamesL that's coursecreatorshq.com/jamesL. And thank you so much for listening and subscribing. And if you enjoyed these podcast episodes, please leave us a five star review. It really, really helps with rankings to help us show up for more folks who are interested in courses. So thanks and have a fantastic week.