In this episode, host Julie Hood shares the 4 systems you need to create and manage an online course business. Use these systems to plan your next steps and where you need to expand.
In this episode, host Julie Hood shares the 4 systems you need to create and manage an online course business. Use these systems to plan your next steps and where you need to expand.
LINKS MENTIONED
Be sure to grab the planning guide and workbook that goes with this episode here.
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KEY TAKEAWAYS
The four key systems you need are your:
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Hey there today. I want to talk about a very important planning and systems process that I've started using that has been really helpful for building my online course business. So hopefully these four systems will also Help you, so let's get it to it. 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. Well, hello. I'm so excited. You're here with us today. We are jumping into a strategy kind of episode this Time, and I'm hoping it will be helpful for you as you plan the last half of your year, and try to figure out where to focus. It's actually, we just finished the first week of the 24 hour course creator daily group coaching program.
And oh my goodness. We have some amazing experts in there who are putting their courses together. I can't wait to share with share them with you in future episodes, but I realized since that's launched now, I really need to put some planning into place for the rest of the year. So I'm going back and looking at what could I be working on?
Where am I going to focus? Because one of the things that really really helped me over the last few months is I knew that the topic entitled challenge and then rolling into the course was the thing I needed to focus on. So projects and ideas and different things I could participate in that would help with that, that would help get the message out about it would introduce people to the challenge,
those things I did, anything else I did not do. And it was really, really helpful to have that focusing for a pretty extended period of time. It was almost three months that I did that. And so now that it's launched and we're, we're into the middle of it. Now that I'm thinking about the rest of the year, I wanted to think about the different four systems that you really need to have for a successful course creation business.
And so I thought I'd go back to the basics and introduce you all to these four systems too. So you could see maybe there's some openings where you should add or could be thinking about additional places that you should focus. So, one thing I should mention there is a really helpful planning guide and workbook that goes along with this episode. So if you go to coursecreatorshq.com/48, that's the show notes for this episode coursecreatorshq.com/48. And on that, in those show notes, I'm going to have the link so you can get this planning guide and workbook for free. So you might want to grab it because, or listen to this twice, this episode, so you can work through the workbook as we go. All right.
So these four systems, the first one is your creation system. And what I mean by that is all of the things that you're constantly creating for your new content. So it's things obviously like your courses that you have to create any kind of new training that you're thinking about creating, but it also includes your blog posts, your email newsletters, even your social media posts.
I mean, it's a lot of content that we have to create and come up with. And in addition to that, you've got all the graphics and the images that need to go along with it. So this doesn't have to take up every spare minute of your day in order to keep up with all this creation. So my first secret for you around your creation system is to constantly be looking for ways to repurpose your content.
So for example, this episode of the podcast is actually a post on my website that has been there since the very beginning, but I realized it fit right now that I could reuse this content and share it again. And then probably in a couple months or so, I'll be using the same essay as an article in the email newsletter. And then I've got blog posts and social media posts that are all going out related to this.
So you can see this, I created this content once for these four systems, and then I just keep using it and using it and using it in different places. Now I'm not using it at the same time in all of these different places. So I'm spreading out the timing so that people don't get inundated everywhere with just this content. You know, the email newsletter won't have that this week.
It'll be a while before I include it. And then social media will have it periodically. So with a few minutes of your time, you can definitely get your content bucket filled and, and reuse a lot of that content. And then the second thing I will recommend for you on creating content is one of the first hires that you can get that will make life so much easier is to get someone to do the darn images for you,
because you need a lot of them it's really time-consuming or can be even with something like Canva, that that makes it a little simpler. It does take a lot of your time. And when you're using like the online course tools like Kajabi and teachable, they all need images on the different lessons. So hire somebody to help you. And I'll be honest,
some of the best folks that I have come across have been students. So we have a really, really fantastic journalism program that teaches people design. And so I've been able to get some high school students that have helped me inexpensively, but you can also try like community colleges that have design graphic design programs, and you don't want to just post a job.
What you need to do is go and call the Dean or call one of the professors directly and say, you know, I'm looking to hire someone. Who's your best student that is looking for some side work that they could do. And then you make it really flexible. As long as you're planning ahead, you can give them a list at the beginning of the week and say,
these are the graphics I need. These are the sizes. Can you have these by the end of the week? So that's one idea to help you save a little bit of time on this whole creation system. And one of the things that I don't hear a lot is actually hiring out the graphic design early on, because it is something that's fairly easy to pass on.
Once you get your branding in place and you kind of know, like I use these colors and I use these fonts, and this is in general, what I need things to look at. And then you can have them working on that for you. And then the last part of that is make sure they are using royalty free images for you. So a websites like pixabay.com
are royalty free, but other websites, or they can't just go pull images from Google and use them. You can get in trouble. I had a client once who got a thousand dollar bill because the graphic designer had pulled an image that they hadn't paid for. So make sure you're using images from pixabay.com is a good one. Pexels.com P E X E L S.com.
And I'll put the, both of those in the show, show notes, at coursecreatorshq.com/48. Okay. System number two is your discovery system. And by discovery system, I mean, this is all the ways that people find you, the ways that they discover what you're doing. So it includes things like your website. If it's showing up in the search engine,
if you're guest posting on other people's websites, if you're doing podcast interviews, if you've got social media accounts where they're stumbling across you, maybe based on the hashtags you're using, if you've got videos on YouTube that they're finding, or maybe you're doing Facebook ads, whatever the systems are that you've put in place for how people discover you. So the good news about this is there are lots and lots of discovery systems.
And the bad news is that there are lots and lots of discovery systems because the trick for you is to figure out the combination, or maybe it's just one system that really, really works for you. So for example, Jeff Cavaliere of AthleanX realized that his discovery system is YouTube and he's built a huge subscriber base. He started years ago on YouTube and realized that,
you know, that's his sweet spot. So the secret is that he kept at it and he kept building his audience. So I looked even back from the end of 2017, he was only at 4 million subscribers, and now he's much, much higher than that. And because he just kept going and kept going. So that's part of it is you have to keep up with that consistency,
even if at the beginning, you, aren't seeing a lot of subscribers, you know, you're putting out YouTube videos and you're getting 10 or 15 or even a hundred subscribers at a time. So you just keep going to get, keep that discovery system going. And then you really don't have to be everywhere. You just have to find the discovery system.
That's perfect for you. So maybe it's Instagram. Maybe it's probably not Facebook, just because Facebook has been restricting how much they, they share your content out to your followers, especially on your Facebook pages, but finding that place where you really love to share is part of the secret and part of what you're doing as you're getting started, marketing is figuring out,
okay, what is it I'm trying to, where is it I like to be, where is it I like to play? What is it I like to share with people? Is it videos? Is it images? Is it lives that kind of thing? You know, that's part of what you're doing is you're figuring out your marketing and your discovery system.
Okay. System number three is your relationship system. And what I mean by this is it's all about building that relationship with your audience. And it's what you're doing regularly to connect with them and build your credibility. And it may somewhat overlap with your discovery system. So for example, a social media, I really consider something where people can stumble across you,
but then it's also, I've switched from trying to make it an action taking system to more of a relationship building system. So when I'm posting on Instagram, I want you to see my name and like what I'm sharing. You may or may not take actions from it. I'm noticing, noticing a lot of social media. It's really tough to get people to actually do stuff from it,
especially as compared to email marketing, where they're used to clicking through and doing stuff as the result of getting an email. So I've switched my intention for my social media, and it's really to build that relationship with anyone who's connecting with me, anybody who comes across by social media account, I want to have something interesting, something that's helpful for them, something educational,
so that then they will put essentially keep watching, keep listening and see what else it is that I can help them with. So your relationship system, the big key to it is that you're staying in touch regularly. So you're building upon those prior interactions that you've had. And every time they find you, it adds a little bit more to your bucket with them.
A little bit more information, a little bit more credibility every time you interact. So for example, I use my weekly emails to really build a deeper connection with my audience. And then I also connect with folks on this podcast. And I will tell you several of the folks who jumped in with 24 hour course creator, they were listening to my podcast.
So there's something special. I think about podcasting that gives them a chance to get to know you at a whole different level. I think videos can also do that. I just haven't done enough of the videos to see that result coming through. But I think videos are another way that you can really connect with folks. So a four year relationship system, every single course
creator needs an email newsletter period. There's very few things that I say you absolutely have to do, but this is one of them. You must have an email newsletter to be able to connect with your audience and build that relationship. Because what happens is you'll stumble across people who aren't quite ready for you yet. They're interested or they're considering it, but they're not ready to jump in.
They're not ready to buy yet. So you use that email newsletter to stay connected with them. So the week that they do decide, Hey, you know what? I am ready to roll with this. You're in their inbox and you're there and you're ready to help them. And don't worry if you don't have one yet, we've got a workshop coming up in July to help you get started and I'll be get going on an email newsletter.
So keep that in the back of your mind. I don't have the pages up yet to sign up, but it's coming and it's going to be reasonably inexpensive for you to get started and get your email newsletter going. And the big thing I'm going to share with everyone is what you should be sharing because that's what the question I get the most is, okay,
I've got this email newsletter set up now, what the heck am I supposed to be talking about every week? So we'll get into that further. And if it's not working for you, let's say you do have one setup and it's not working very well. So you will also need to jump in that workshop because I'm going to talk about there's some very key things that you need to be doing.
And I've been studying this. Actually, this was one of the very first things I did way, way, way, way back in 2001 in 2002, when I got started was an email newsletter and figuring out how to use it, to help people and then also to get them to take action. That's what we want is for them to get used to taking action from the email newsletter.
Okay. So think about your relationship system and what you're doing in order to connect with people and build that relationship with them. So our first system was the creation system and coming up with content, the second system was the discovery system, which is how are people finding you? And then the third system is your relationship system, how you're staying connected and building that relationship with them.
And then the last system, the fourth system is what I call your sales system. So once you have your course ready, you need a way for people to find you. So that's your discovery. And then you build that connection with them through your relationship system. And then the last thing is the sales part of it is how do you get potential customers to raise their hand,
sign up, click that button and pay you for your course. So the sales system can include a whole bunch of things and, you know, maybe specific funnels that you set up, it may be where you have a really low cost product so that they can get started. And then they'll jump into more of your high-end course. So, but it does mean that you have some kind of ordering shopping cart system that works for you.
This is another thing that we're going to be talking about in July. There is an amazing special coming on my favorite tool in order to create your online course in your online course business. And I can't give out the details yet. It's sort of like having that secret that you just want to tell somebody all, but it's, it's the best pricing I've seen on this tool and it's coming in July.
I'm going to be mentioning it quite a bit, but make sure, make sure you are on my email list. So go to coursecreatorshq.com/48, sign up for the planning guide. And then that will make sure you're on the email list because I want you to see this special. If you do not have a tool yet that you're using for your courses.
And I'll be honest, if this sales system isn't working very well, if it's broken, you really can't stay in business very long because you know, you've got to have a way to get paid and to keep it simple. And it may be as simple as having PayPal buttons that you use to send it out to people when you're getting started. But then as you scale,
you want to have a slightly more sophisticated system so that you're not having to do all these manual type orders. And the really good news about your sales system is it's one of those that you can set up and then it can be fairly static and kind of sit there and work for you. It's not like your creation system where you're constantly creating new content for social media.
It's pretty much static. And while you do have to keep feeding people into it, once it's set up, then it can keep going. So I have a client who set up their order pages, gosh, probably close to 10 years ago and it's still selling for them. So we just need to get that sales system up and running for you so you can keep rolling new people in and getting new orders.
So I hope this helped you kind of evaluate which of these systems that you have, that you need, where the holes are. And so it gives you some ideas of what to do going forward and how to continue building your business. So thank you so much for listening. And I just found out this week that apple podcast has changed and it's no longer subscribing to podcasts.
You're now following podcasts. So you click the three dots up in the right-hand corner on apple podcasts and you follow instead of subscribe. So thank you for listening. Thank you for following. And for those of you who are, who are on other podcasts software, thank you for subscribing. And then if you learned anything useful today, I'd really appreciate a five-star review.
Those help us get in front of more potential course creators. So thanks so much. I hope you have enjoyed this episode food And I can't wait to connect with you next week, or we'll have even more ideas for you on building and marketing. Your online courses, have a fantastic week.