The Online Course Show

When you’re starting an online course business, you probably have a lot of questions about what it will take to keep that course running smoothly every month. My business has evolved a lot over time, and that means my expenses have evolved too. And that’s what we’re here to talk about today! "You have to be your own CFO" - David Krohse No matter what stage your business is in, you probably have expenses! In this episode we’re taking a look at all the essential tools and services I pay for - and why I think they’re worth it. In This Episode, We Talked About: (0:47) Dave’s story about being in an online course mindset and cost/benefit analysis (3:52) My latest launch (5:25) Learning from imperfect leaders and thinking about success (8:39) A life update made possible by my online course business (10:04) Setting the stage for discussion of my monthly expenses (14:10) My credit card rewards recommendation (14:46) Spending on tools, ads, and cloud storage (21:46) What I’m doing for Instagram content so far (24:08) Physical pack components and how I handle shipping (28:04) More expenses and outsourcing costs (29:28) Why I love StreamYard (32:31) Staying organized, handling ads, and customizing communications (34:51) Thoughts on Wistia, Canva, and Zoom (37:07) Payments I handle outside of my credit account (37:25) How much did I spend on advertising, course supplies, and processing fees in April? (39:13) Contractors’ fees and handling business while away (39:56) My experience with Evolved Finance so far (41:27) My business wishlist and what I’m enjoying being able to afford for my business (43:22) Pitfalls new business owners should be aware of (46:34) Three key tools and why I didn’t include them in my monthly expenses (47:37) Wrapping up Thank you for listening in – I hope you enjoyed what you learned! We’ll be back with another episode soon of The Online Course Show soon. Links Deadline Funnel Free Trial ClickFunnels Free Trial Active Campaign Free Trial Bonjoro Free Trial Episode 28 Next Level Courses Evolved Finance Chase Business Backupify Auphonic GSuite Stunning WP Engine TrustPilot Later Custom Ink Lightning Press Moo Flashbay Sticker Mule Typeform Upwork StreamYard Ulku Logistics Calendly Conversion Owl PicSnippets Free Trial Wistia Vimeo Canva Zoom Zapier Sony A63400 camera Piano In 21 Days Instagram Jacques' Course - Piano in 21 Days David’s Course - Wellness Program Expert

Stacks and secrets and sales - oh my! We’re talking all about webinar content today, because I firmly believe that your webinar can be a huge driver of sales if you set it up right. If they check certain boxes for the audience and are structured in a certain way, they can really help your audience break their false beliefs about your niche. "You’ve got to help people break through objections." - Jacques Hopkins David and I had a lot of fun discussing the ins and outs of my webinar and what I’ve learned over the years of working on it. Once you understand the basic structure of how to do an effective webinar presentation, you can apply this knowledge to just about any niche! In This Episode, We Talked About: (1:44) Life updates and recent events (4:03) Facebook communities and why I’ve been going live more often (9:24) A book recommendation and update from David (13:29) The Win of the Week (16:58) My top 4 favorite tools (17:35) Do webinars work? (20:53) Webinar icebreakers and presentation openers (22:12) Incentivizing attendees to watch the whole webinar (24:14) How to use an epiphany bridge (26:46) The importance of stories (27:20) Creating “The 3 Secrets” from false beliefs, with examples from my niche (31:24) How to deal with skepticism (32:20) The 3 types of false beliefs, with more examples (37:29) Transitioning into selling (39:11) “The Stack” for webinars (42:54) How to do a price reveal (44:45) Storytelling to combat false beliefs (47:45) Ending your webinar + thoughts on webinar length (49:24) Wrapping up Thank you for listening in – I hope you enjoyed what you learned! We’ll be back with another episode soon of The Online Course Show soon. Links Deadline Funnel Free Trial Bonjoro Free Trial Share Your Win of the Week How to Stop Worrying and Start Living Expert Secrets Episode 18 CopyWriting Secrets Jacques’ Course - Next Level Courses Jacques' Course - Piano in 21 Days David’s Course - Wellness Program Expert

When I first started my online course business, I didn’t even really know what a “funnel” was. Sales funnels can be confusing, even for people who are a bit savvier than I was back then! And that’s why David and I are doing a deep-dive into the why and what of funnels – plus how I’ve set mine up to drive sales for my online piano course. "The importance of a funnel is really building a rapport and a relationship with your prospective customer." - Jacques Hopkins Wherever you’re at on your online course journey, you can benefit from taking a close look at your sales funnel (or lack thereof)! And you just may want to break out the notepad and pen for this one. ???? In This Episode, We Talked About: (2:27) My update on affiliate promotions for my piano course plus more exciting milestones (8:05) Thoughts on creating moments of celebration (10:36) Tips and tricks for better posture with Doctor David (15:40) The Win of the Week (19:56) Funnels: how I started mine and how I hope to help in this episode (22:25) The psychology of my website homepage and opt-in (24:54) Surveying and segmenting my potential students (27:00) Creating a two-pronged enrollment window (28:42) Hot leads and evergreen webinars (29:36) How I provide value to potential students and build rapport (30:54) Why I don’t constantly promote my webinar to people in my funnel (31:57) Staying out of the Spam folder (32:33) Opening enrollment (33:31) Closing cart and ending the funnel (34:07) Offering incentives + how I plan to tweak this process (38:43) The value of my funnel and why funnels alone don’t equal sales (40:59) Thinking about relaunching and future webinars (43:45) How you can see my funnel emails firsthand (44:29) An exciting update for course creators who want to take their course business to the next level (45:41) Wrapping up Thank you for listening in – I hope you enjoyed what you learned! We’ll be back with another episode soon of The Online Course Show soon. Links Deadline Funnel Free Trial ClickFunnels Free Trial Share Your Win of the Week Episode 125 Expert Secrets Jacques’ Course – Piano in 21 Days David’s Course – Wellness Program Expert

If you’re like me, the legal side of an online course business can be intimidating. Privacy policies, trademarks, pirating… so many legal concerns to consider! Fortunately, lawyer and course creator Autumn Witt is here on today’s episode to break down some of the most important considerations in this topic for online course businesses. "I put a lot [of my audience's feedback] into packaging up what needed to be in my course." - Autumn Witt Autumn shared a wealth of insight on how new and old course creators alike can identify legal concerns and take action no matter what stage your business is in. I’m still mulling over what I learned in today’s episode, and I’m definitely going to be taking some of Autumn’s advice for my own online course business. In This Episode, We Talked About:  (3:32) Celebrating wins and sharing a fun giveaway I did for my piano students (6:16) What makes this podcast different (6:55) What percent of my students are in the US, and what does that have to do with my accent? (9:29) An idea I’m considering as a way to serve my students better (12:56) Affiliate updates for my course (17:02) Introducing Autumn and how she helps course creators (19:58) The biggest mistake course creators make when it comes to legal considerations (20:43) Privacy policies, disclaimers, and terms of use (23:33) Templates versus working with an attorney for custom legal advice (24:20) Big online course names that Autumn has worked with (24:54) Legal concerns to know when starting an online course (26:36) Dealing with refund requests and disputed charges (28:27) How scaling up affects your business legally (29:41) How much does registering a trademark cost? (30:53) Questions about pirating and plagiarism (34:50) Autumn’s own online course journey (37:04) Who can benefit from Autumn’s course (38:43) Favorite tools and platforms (40:22) Autumn’s advice for new course creators (42:25) Her team and where to find her online (43:32) David and I discuss how not to be an ostrich (45:23) Thoughts on handling disputes and choosing your battles (49:47) Reducing barriers to entry versus covering your legal bases (51:56) Trademark stories with David (53:33) Respect and dealing with unreasonable people (57:16) Wrapping up Whew, that about does it for today! Thanks so much for tuning in! Links Deadline Funnel Free Trial Bonjoro Free Trial ClickFunnels Free Trial Share Your Win of the Week Paul’s YouTube Channel Episode 80 Jacques' Course - Piano in 21 Days David’s Course - Wellness Program Expert

One of my favorite types of interviews are the ones where we catch up with past guests and see where their online course journey has been taking them over time. Today we’ve got Gina Horkey back with us! Gina always has a lot of great insights and updates on her online course business, so it was great to have her back on The Online Course Show. "Invest in student success." - Gina Horkey It was great to get Gina’s perspective on the past year of her business and what she’s working on! I hope you enjoy the conversation. In This Episode, We Talked About:  (1:59) Consistency and growth (3:22) How to approach copywriting (6:45) My update on sales for this month and year so far (7:59) Affiliates and my process (10:29) The Win of the Week (13:29) A book recommendation (15:45) Catching up with Gina since our last conversation (19:04) How her online course business has given her more confidence (21:15) The magic of content repurposing (25:05) How Gina is restructuring her content and platforms (28:29) Setting up a course that may change hands in the future (29:17) Keyword research as SEO (30:29) Maintaining and separating multiple brands (32:48) Gina’s decisions on personal visibility on different brands (34:44) Outsourcing content and profit-sharing versus contracting (40:45) The importance of diverse income streams (45:41) How entrepreneurs are pivoting during the pandemic (47:06) Finding life-work balance (52:05) Gina’s advice for new course creators (55:47) David and I discuss Gina's strategy for multiple brands (58:05) The value of coaching and accountability (1:01:57) Thoughts on affiliates, profit-sharing, and other options (1:03:59) Finding work-life balance and why I love my online course business (1:06:05) Refunds and guarantees (1:08:34) Wrapping up That’s all for now, folks! See you on the next episode of The Online Course Guy. Links ClickFunnels Free Trial Share Your Win of the Week Gina’s Course - Horkey Handbook Episode 82 ThriveCart Fix This Next Jacques' Course - Piano in 21 Days David’s Course - Wellness Program Expert

We’re back, and catching up with a course creator who I interviewed all the way back in episode 80! Paul Lipsky is a successful drop-shipping business owner and course creator who teaches others how to run their own Ebay drop-shipping business. It was great to speak with Paul again and hear all his latest and greatest online course news. "Now that I’m focusing on less, we’re seeing better results… Focus down on what’s really working." - Paul Lipsky It was very cool to hear how Paul’s been doing with his course and recent changes. Make sure you check out the other episodes we mention during today’s interview! In This Episode, We Talked About:  (1:49) David’s funnel update (3:00) What NOT to do to go viral on YouTube and the importance of an “advisory board” (9:35) Some updates on my course during social distancing (11:37) Switching to 4K video (13:10) The Win of the Week and our thoughts (16:38) Recalling my past interview with Paul Lipsky and his story (18:03) Life changes since I last spoke with Paul (19:33) Benefits and challenges of living in a van (21:45) Recapping how Paul’s online business and course works (22:50) Thoughts on updating content in different niches (25:08) Tools Paul loves and is trying out (27:51) YouTube traffic and lessons learned about reducing regular posting (30:25) Thoughts on live streaming videos (32:11) Changes to Paul’s funnel setup with webinars (35:15) Communicating about pre-recorded webinar content (37:19) Our shared frustrations with EverWebinar (39:35) New webinar setups and tricks to make the viewing experience better (42:17) Split-testing sales pages (43:08) Paul’s advice for new and aspiring course creators (45:36) Where to find Paul online (46:24) David and I discuss ClickFunnels and course editing (48:21) Taking inspiration from Paul’s journey (49:55) Thoughts on social proof apps (52:38) Webinar changes and the reasoning behind certain tweaks (55:50) Wrapping up Thanks for listening and learning along with us today. Stay tuned for another great episode coming soon! Links Deadline Funnel Free Trial Bonjoro Free Trial ClickFunnels Free Trial Share Your Win of the Week Paul’s YouTube Channel Episode 80 Jacques' Course - Piano in 21 Days David’s Course - Wellness Program Expert Episode 125 Teachable Proof ProveSource Zapier

If you are new to the online course world, you’ve probably been wondering if a platform like Udemy could be a good place to start. There’s probably no one-size-fits-all answer on, but my guest today had some great insights that are definitely worth considering. Tracy Goodwin is a successful course creator who specialized in helping people get their message across more effectively. It was great to hear her perspective on all things online course-related and to learn what has worked best for her. "Give yourself a little bit more credit than you might be giving yourself… someone out there is waiting for your message." - Tracy Goodwin I couldn’t have said it better myself! And I hope you enjoy listening in on our conversation! In This Episode, We Talked About:  (2:34) An update from David (4:27) Potential new course creators - in my own family! (6:28) How things are going for me and my business right now (9:19) The key components of a successful course (10:41) How my wife and I will be celebrating a new milestone (11:24) Shoutouts, the Win of the Week, and a cool story (15:50) Introducing Tracy Goodwin (16:24) Who Tracy helps and how she does it (20:39) Her online course journey and early wins (22:47) The differences in our stories (24:11) Price point considerations and leaving Udemy (27:20) How Tracy now sells her courses (28:56) Unusual ways Tracy gets her traffic (30:16) What gets her more excited: course sales or coaching? (32:14) Coaches, mentors, and the value of outside help (35:30) The opportunities that Tracy has created with her online course business (36:37) What Tracy would do differently if she was starting over (38:48) Her favorite tools (40:27) Tracy’s tips for new and aspiring course creators (42.35) Where to find Tracy online (43:06) My and David’s thoughts on Tracy’s experience with Udemy (47:01) Phone sales, impact on family, and other observations from the interview (48:58) The cautionary tale of Elizabeth Holmes (52:33) Wrapping up That’s all for now, folks! See you on the next episode of The Online Course Show. Links ClickFunnels Free Trial Bonjoro Free Trial Deadline Funnel Free Trial Share Your Win of the Week Video 4x Effect ConvertKit LearnDash Tracy’s Course - Captivate the Room Bad Blood Denise Hopkins Fine Art Jacques' Course - Piano in 21 Days David’s Course - Wellness Program Expert

If there’s one thing that’s true for nearly all online course creators, it’s that your course content includes at least some video components. On today’s episode I had the chance to speak with Demelza Marie, who is all about helping course creators make the best possible impression with video. "People tend to focus a lot more on the camera and equipment, and not how to use it." - Demelza Marie Demelza provided some valuable food for thought about how to improve video production no matter whether you’re a new course creator or someone who’s been doing this for years. It was great to hear the tips and tricks she shared! In This Episode, We Talked About:  (1:38) The prevalence of video-based online courses (2:45) The Win of the Week (7:23) My most recent live webinars and how my course is doing during current events (9:38) Dealing with trolls and people who don’t want to hear my story (12:28) An update from David (15:04) Introducing Demelza Marie (15:45) Why she believes video quality is key for online course success (17:28) Production quality vs content quality (18:32) Who Demelza helps, and why different types of videos may suit different niches better (20:55) The LACEY framework for improving video quality (24:09) Dealing with lighting challenges and assessing my setup (27:04) How to create good quality audio (29:19) Choosing a camera AND a filming angle (32:25) Editing your videos (or should you?) (36:03) Practicing and presenting your content on camera (38:22) What aspects of video production Demelza sees course creators struggle with the most (39:20) What about 4K? (40:13) Demelza’s course offerings and resources for online course creators (41:16) Her advice for new and aspiring course creators (42:24) David and I discuss takeaways from the interview (44:13) Some favorite tools and my current camera setup (47:37) Developing good energy on camera + a funny misunderstanding (52:40) Wrapping up We covered a lot of important ground on video production today, so I hope you’ll drop me a line and let me know your favorite part of the conversation! Links Deadline Funnel Free Trial Share Your Win of the Week Demelza Marie’s Website Krisp Simple Transfer Sony A6400 Dimmable LED panel Jacques' Course - Piano in 21 Days David’s Course - Wellness Program Expert

Here on The Online Course Show, we’re all about learning from successful course creators and keeping an open mind. That’s why I’m super excited to share this episode with you! My guest Alison Beere has a pretty unorthodox approach to teaching in her niche online, and our conversation was definitely thought-provoking. "Find one person who wants you to teach them, and find out what their questions are." - Alison Beere David and I had a lot of fun hearing what’s been working for Alison and discussing her business model. I hope you enjoy listening in! In This Episode, We Talked About: (1:46) How we’re doing with podcast goals and course business goals thus far this year (3:25) Questions from David about affiliates (6:56) A virtual summit with a past podcast guest (12:06) A very cool new podcast feature and how you can participate (14:06) Win of the Week (17:43) Setting the stage for today’s interview (18:21) Introducing Alison Beere and her online course niche (21:25) Offering a service versus a course (23:15) How Alison would (or wouldn’t) pitch her course offering to me as a business owner (24:52) Why she includes live components in her course and how that affects students’ results (28:19) Pricing and scheduling considerations (30:19) Going back to Alison’s first sale and discussing the structure of her business (31:51) The perks of being a successful online course creator (33:08) Deal-closing strategies that have worked for Alison (34:52) Would Alison change anything if she was starting over now? (35:35) Imposter syndrome and how she’s overcome it (37:38) Alison’s favorite software and tools (38:58) Her advice to new and aspiring course creators (40:55) Wrapping up and how to learn more from Alison (41:55) David and I discuss Alison’s unique course model (42:28) Resources related to topics discussed in the interview (44:48) Thoughts on Alison’s evolution from student to teacher (47:07) Wrapping up and a reminder on how you can record your own Win of the Week Thanks for listening and learning along with us today. Stay tuned for another great episode coming soon! Links Traffic Secrets ZenForum AWeber ProCreate PsychoTactics ScreenFlow Oversubscribe The 3-Month Vacation Podcast Alison’s Website Jacques' Course - Piano in 21 Days David’s Course - Wellness Program Expert Bonjoro Free Trial Deadline Funnel Free Trial Share Your Win of the Week

Spoiler alert: this episode involves money, wine, and some big ups and downs to go along with that! Bobby Hoyt was our guest and he is not called the Millennial Money Man for nothing. We had a super-fun conversation and I think there is a lot to be learned here no matter how much online course experience you do or don’t have. "It was the right product for the right audience at the right time." - Bobby Hoyt I had a great time chatting with Bobby and hearing his insights into what it takes to run a successful online course and more. In This Episode, We Talked About: (2:32) Why David thought today’s guest would be the perfect interviewee for our podcast (3:46) An update on my Amazon affiliate issues (4:37) How is David’s business and course creation process going during the current pandemic? (6:54) Thoughts on keeping podcast content evergreen despite world events and what my Facebook live sessions accomplish that the podcast can’t (8:31) A minor glitch while jumping into the interview (9:16) How Bobby got started with online courses (13:12) Instant success vs. the more common reality (14:24) Why Bobby stopped putting out income reports (16:02) His current course offerings and number of students (19:23) How important is income diversification? (21:04) Bobby’s story about quitting his teaching job (23:36) Thinking through the big decision (25:17) The thrill of a successful first launch and a special bottle of wine (30:43) A disclaimer and a discussion of Bobby’s early conversion rates (32:46) Struggles along the way (34:56) Having a partner vs. working alone (36:21) The most stressful aspects of running an online course without support (39:41) Bobby’s favorite perk of having a successful course business (41:08) The top tools Bobby uses (43:33) His advice for aspiring course creators (44:20) Where to find more info from Bobby and his wife (45:59) David and I discuss our favorite moments from the interview (47:47) Ups and downs for online course businesses (51:24) How I handle certain tasks and how I may outsource them in the future (53:05) Thinking through when different people may decide to quit their day job (55:22) Wrapping up That’s all for now, folks! See you on the next episode of The Online Course Show. Links Deadline Funnel Free Trial ClickFunnels Free Trial Bobby’s Website - Millennial Money Man Coral Hoyt’s YouTube Channel ThriveCart Teachable Episode 125 ActiveCampaign ConvertKit David’s Course - Wellness Program Expert Jacques' Course - Piano in 21 Days Woopra