The Online Course Show

All the way back on episode 29, I interviewed Helena Lui about how she had quit her job after developing her online course. Since then, she’s multiplied her income many, many times over with her course business. I had to have her back on to hear how her business has grown and what has or hasn’t changed for her over this past year. "Scale with ads. Keep at it. Be persistent with your goal. Every day try something new." -Helena Lui Helena and I delved into some very important insights on all things webinar-related and much more! So get ready to take some notes and enjoy listening in! In This Episode, We Talked About: (2:48) Reviewing where Helena was at back in January of 2018 (6:48) Her webinar and sales funnels (8:06) Handling webinar chatlines (12:36) The importance of providing clear information in webinars (13:52) Lessons Helena’s learned through hiring someone to help with her webinar (19:26) How outsourcing is going and how she plans to develop and outsource new content (23.13) Helena’s sales funnel setup (plus why she wants her webinar attendees to join the webinar on a desktop computer) (25:12) How she addresses the four possible outcomes after someone registers for a webinar (28:29) A niche-specific way that Helena offers her students value if they enroll (29:34) What happens if someone goes through her funnel and isn’t ready to enroll until later (31:15) How increases in revenue have affected her lifestyle and business structure (35:07) Tips on optimizing Facebook pages and posts (36:43) Helena’s main business expenses (38:19) Her advice for course creators who want to multiply their business revenue (40:01) Determining what to upsell and what to include in an online course Thank you for listening in – I hope you enjoyed what you learned! Links Bonjoro Free Trial Helena’s Website Content Multiplier Formula Mouse Flow Piano in 21 Days The Online Course Guy

Buckle up for another episode of The Online Course Guy – this time covering some topics that I’ve never discussed on my podcast before. Gina Horkey joined me recently for a fascinating discussion on the ups and downs of running an online course business. As a successful course creator, Gina has a wealth of ideas and perspective that is super-relevant to this industry "It’s not all about being the seller [or] all about being the buyer. It’s a relationship." -Gina Horkey It was awesome to hear Gina’s thoughts on online courses and how to handle the business side of things. I’m still mulling over what I learned in today’s episode, and I think you’ll enjoy what you learn, too! In This Episode, We Talked About: (2:56) How Gina first got started in the world of online courses (6:23) The evolution of her courses over time (7:40) Her existing content and what she’s currently working on (10:10) Balancing working on improving old content and developing new content (11:11) How Gina teaches email management processes (14:37) Helping VA’s and entrepreneurs connect with each other (19:02) Why Gina offers workbooks for sale separately from her courses (21:14) Her sales funnel structure and thoughts on scarcity (24:05) How Gina’s different course purchasing options perform (25:50) The pros and cons for Gina’s favorite tools for online courses (29:11) Her perspective on money-back policies (34:23) Considering different ways to handle refund requests (39:52) An unfortunate pet peeve: payment disputes (46:41) Gina’s recommendations for new course creators We covered a lot of ground today, so I hope you’ll drop me a line and let me know your favorite part of the conversation. See you next week for another episode of The Online Course Guy! Links Bonjoro Free Trial Gina’s Courses VA Finder Case Study on Email Management Thinkific   The Online Course Guy Pinterest VA Course SamCart Drip PayPal Stripe Piano in 21 Days

I’m back with another interview episode, this time with Heather Jones, a.k.a. The Brain Trainer. Heather’s built quite a following on Instagram and is teaching her students how to lose weight and much more. Like all the best teachers, she’s teaching topics she cares about and is enjoying sharing knowledge that she’s already applied in her own life. "We get stuck in “It’s not going be good enough, who am I to do this, I don’t have all the certificates, I’m not an expert.”… But there’s going to be people that need you." -Heather Jones   It was great to hear Heather share her thoughts on course creation and Instagram engagement – especially since my wife and I are actually taking a course on Instagram right now! I hope you enjoy what you hear. In This Episode, We Talked About: (3:34) How Heather got into the world of online courses (5:38) Why she’s shifted gears from a completely different profession into her current business (6:37) What prompted her to take the knowledge she acquired and put it into course form on Teachable (7:46) How Heather’s initial launch went (8:31) Her current course offerings as they’ve developed over time (8:57) The role that phone consultations take in Heather’s interaction with prospective students (12:04) Where most of her traffic comes from (13:26) How she’s built her Instagram following (17:05) The strategies she uses to maintain connection with followers and create engaging content (20:40) How the GDPR has affected Heather’s business in the UK (23:12) Some of Heather’s favorite online tools (24:44) Her biggest business struggle these days (25:24) Heather’s advice for beginning course creators That’s all for now, folks! See you on the next episode of The Online Course Guy. Links Bonjoro Free Trial Heather’s Website Teachable Insight Timer TOCG Episode 61 Life as Paper Piano in 21 Days The Online Course Guy

I’m back with a brand new episode of The Online Course Guy! Paul Lipsky has had a whirlwind of a year with his course on drop-shipping: with no formal launch strategy, he’s still managed to enroll 1,000+ students since January! It was so cool to hear what he has learned along the way and about the new era he’s entering into as a business owner. "Create a way to connect with people… and do that before you ever try to sell them anything." - Paul Lipsky We covered a lot of ground in a relatively short amount of time, so I hope you like what you hear! In This Episode, We Talked About: (3:05) How Paul initially got into the world of online retail and what his niche entails (4:28) What led him to create his own online course (6:13) Why Paul needed to find an alternative to his previous job - and when he actually felt ready to quit (7:34) How he balances his drop-shipping business and his online course (8:05) The growth Paul has seen since launching his course (9:12) What he’s learned since his launch and how he built initial interest (10:01) How his pricing structure has evolved over time (10:23) The awesome enrollment numbers he’s experienced so far (11:23) What his sales funnel looks like (12:20) How he uses YouTube and the ways his channel benefits his business (13:51) A look at how his YouTube content has evolved (15:44) Paul’s process for content creation (16:56) How he balances all the different aspects of a rapidly-growing online course (18:58) His favorite tools for his business (21:04) What Paul is planning for the future (22:41) Advice for aspiring online course creators That’s all for now, folks! See you on the next episode of The Online Course Guy. Links Bonjoro Free Trial Paul’s Main Website Asana Teachable Lead Pages Proof ConvertKit Piano in 21 Days The Online Course Guy

Welcome to another episode of The Online Course Guy! Today’s episode is the first of its kind, because I’m not only speaking with course creator – I’m letting you in on a coaching call.Now, that doesn’t mean my guest is an online course newbie. Quite the opposite: Jason Dion has already done over 6 figures in course sales so far. But he’s been looking to transition from Udemy to his own domain, and that’s what our conversation centered around. In This Episode, We Talked About: (2:57) Why Jason wants to make some changes even though he’s already a successful course creator (4:07) The reasoning behind his initial foray into Udemy and his pricing strategy so far (7:44) How he’s done so far with his numerous courses on Udemy (8:49) Who Jason’s target demographic is and why branching out appeals to him (10:55) Where he’s currently at with building his business off Udemy (12:08) Jason’s business team (12:55) The dilemma he’s facing with pricing and how he plans to differentiate content on different platforms (13:32) How his sales are doing so far without an integrated marketing funnel (14:15) What Jason wants to learn from my approach to online courses (15:10) Some questions that I use to help me determine how to advice course creators (16:56) The simple basics of funnel marketing (19:25) The biggest challenge Jason is facing as he sets up his funnel (20:36) Free opt-in concepts for helping segment his audience (21:46) Email auto-responders and other elements that will be helpful to Jason as he develops his marketing approach (24:24) Thinking through segmentation and different potential funnels (26:27) The types of content to include in marketing emails (26:38) Why and how to implement scarcity (28:31) Where Jason will be focusing his initial efforts during his business transition (29:35) The way he plans to use pay-per-click advertising (31:23) My recommendations for Jason as he works on next steps for his business (32:31) Jason’s perspective for people interested in course creation on Udemy versus alternative methods That wraps it up for today, but don’t forget to subscribe so you can keep up with all the latest episodes. Until next time! Links Bonjoro Free Trial Jason’s Website Lynda Thinkific Right Message Piano in 21 Days The Online Course Guy

Today’s guest is one-half of Social Brand School and an expert on building traffic and sales through Instagram. It was great to speak with Julie Cabezas and learn how she and her business partner have been able to create a successful online course in their niche of expertise. "You want to make the course simple and actionable, to drive a specific result… A course that delivers on its promise is going to be successful." - Julie Cabezas Julie shared some awesome tips not only about course creation but on how you and I can be more successful on social media through personal branding and much more. I hope you like what you hear! In This Episode, We Talked About: (2:09) Why and how Julie and her business partner decided to create an online course (3:37) The reason they focus on Instagram for their lessons and resources (4:38) How their business is set up between their agency services and online course (5:28) Who their ideal clients are and what they’re looking for (6:53) Julie’s take on why so many entrepreneurs struggle with social media strategy (8:15) What she would recommend for online course creators who aren’t sure how to use Instagram for marketing (11:06) How Instagram lends itself to building followings and sales quickly (13:10) The passive and active sides of Instagram marketing that Julie and Samantha’s course teaches (14:23) Their course launch and funnel setup (16:54) How Julie and Samantha’s partnership works (18:14) Julie’s take on how to build synergy to maintain effective partnerships (19:25) Where most of their course traffic comes from and how their affiliate options help with sales (20:35) Why their course is always available for immediate purchase (22:23) Why they have intermittent spikes in sales (22:57) The next course Julie and Samantha have in the works and why they want to branch out with their content (24:31) How they bring additional advanced teaching to students through a mastermind group (25:42) Julie’s favorite business tools (28:00) How they process payments without paying a huge amount of fees each month (30:00) Their biggest business struggles these days (31:53) Julie’s advice for anyone thinking about starting their online course That’s all for today, but I’ll be back with more cool tips and great insights from fellow course creators – don’t forget to subscribe! Links Bonjoro Free Trial Social Brand School ConvertKit Teachable Fatt Merchant Piano in 21 Days The Online Course Guy

On this short and sweet solo episode, I’m here to tell you about mastermind groups and why I am such a big fan of these types of groups. Not only that, I’ll tell you how to join a mastermind if you haven’t already (something which I used to be quite confused about myself). Enjoy! In This Episode, We Talked About: (1:54) What is a mastermind, anyway? (3:29) How to get involved in masterminds if you’ve never been in one before (4:53) The different masterminds I’m in today and how they motivate me (8:45) My recommendations for course creators considering getting involved in mastermind groups That about does it for today! Are you in a mastermind group? Are you interested in starting one? Drop me a line to let me know – plus don’t forget to subscribe and join me for the next episode of The Online Course Guy podcast. Links Bonjoro Free Trial Success Alliance Zoom Piano in 21 Days The Online Course Guy

Welcome to the box! (Once you play the audio you’ll know what I mean.) Today’s episode is one of two that I’m recording as I do a whole bunch of online course brainstorming with some other awesome course creators. Lots of cool stuff is in the works, and for now I’m excited to share how I outsource course creation on today’s solo episode. Enjoy! In This Episode, We Talked About: (2:10) My experience with outsourcing entire courses so far (4:13) How a poll of my existing students led me to my third outsourced course (5:44) An exciting new resource I’m currently working on (7:20) The number one lesson I’ve learned about outsourcing courses (8:48) Two important boxes to check before deciding to create a new resource (9:54) How to identify the best outsourcing candidates (11:17) Vetting your best candidates (11:56) The importance of collaboration during the outsourcing process (13:32) How to keep the process both efficient and on track with your desired outcome (14:22) Who to blame if your outsourced course doesn’t turn out the way you hoped (15:08) The importance of fair compensation (16:12) How I can help if you’re not quite sure how to take your course to the next level Thank you for listening in – drop me a line and let me know whether you’d ever outsource a course of your own! I’ll be back with another episode soon. Links Bonjoro Free Trial Piano in 21 Days The Online Course Guy

Just about a year ago, fellow course creators Tim Geiss and Nate Dodson were on the podcast with me talking about a book I just finished: Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. It sparked a great discussion about handling some very important aspects of having your own business, and since I’ve now been using the profit first system for a year, I wanted to revisit this topic with you. "Sales are a vanity metric. They don’t mean anything unless you put them into context." -Tom Geiss As evidenced by my continued implementation of what I learned from Profit First, I am a big fan of this way of accounting. It works, and it’s relatively simple to begin using. I hope you enjoy this blast-from-the-past episode – and maybe even consider changing your accounting system as a result. Let’s jump in! In This Episode, We Talked About: (1:48) The accounting system I use (2:54) The underlying concept behind putting profit first and what that means on a practical level for my business (4:16) A recap from my conversation last year with Nate and Tom about Profit First (5:10) Tom’s reasons for implementing this accounting method and how he feels it benefits his business (7:39) How long it took for me to start implementing profit first and how often I initially was revisiting my system (10:28) The business credit card that all three of us have found useful (11:46) Why you can still use this system without rigidly following every single guideline (12:55) Nate’s question about how Profit First actually benefits businesses and my early takeaways (17:59) The minimum percentage of profit that this system has you start putting aside each month for emergencies (19:44) How putting profit first helped Tom feel less uptight about spending money on growing his business (21:36) The way this process allow for a steady personal income and regular bonuses despite monthly profit fluctuations (25:38) Tax implications for different types of business structures (26:44) The difference between being an employee and an investor (29:42) How using the profit first system affects operating expenses (31:17) A mistake I probably wouldn’t have made if I was using this system earlier (32:03) The role of a business emergency fund in Profit First context (35:21) “The Vault” - an advanced profit first technique (36:12) Why this system keeps profit and tax accounts separate (38:10) How putting profit first could benefit one of Nate’s other business (42:23) Moving from the owner-operator role to being an owner working on the business rather than in it (43:18) A quick look at FICA accounting (47:14) How the profit first concept works as you initially implement it (48:36) The percentage of revenue to set aside for taxes and other categories (52:33) The main point of Profit First (53:18) A tip from Tom on operating expense decisions (56:08) The best type of bank accounts for profit first accounting (57:56) How the profit first concept could work for businesses beside online courses We discussed all that and much more, so don’t forget to leave a comment and let me know what you enjoyed about today’s flashback episode! Links Bonjoro Free Trial Profit First Piano in 21 Days The Online Course Guy

Welcome back to another episode of The Online Course Guy podcast! My guest today has over 20 courses – and I’ve even taken one of them. Scott Duffy is all over Udemy and his name has come up time and time again in the Facebook mastermind groups I’m a part of. So it was only natural that I’d want to have him on my podcast. The conversation that followed covered a lot of ground and it was great to hear Scott’s advice for course creators. "What is that these people are trying to become?… There is room in this market for so many topics. There are thousands and thousands of topics, but you have to start by thinking about what your students will be or what they will do by the end [of your course]." -Scott Duffy Scott provided some great food for thought and shared some interesting perspectives on all things course-related. Enjoy! In This Episode, We Talked About: (3:25) Scott’s tagline and why he emphasizes making learning complex topics accessible for his students (4:25) What more advanced students are looking for and his thoughts on supply/demand for more in-depth courses (8:44) The platforms where Scott makes his course content available (12:15) His reasoning behind the recent switch he made in his pricing model (14:55) How his business has evolved since his early success on Udemy (16:35) Scott’s perspective on his approach to business (18:25) How online courses have enabled him to quit his day job and be his own boss (20:39) The leverage that building your own successful business provides (22:10) Scott’s advice for anyone interested in getting started in the world of online courses (26:02) The difference between creating an interesting course and a transformative course (28:10) What Scott would do if he was starting over today (30:40) His thoughts on how Udemy could have factored into my course’s success if I had gotten started there earlier (33:35) The odds of supplanting a top-rated course on Udemy these days (34:23) Scott’s new work-life balance after quitting his job (37:08) His favorite part of course creation (38:16) How the biggest struggle he faces with his business also gives him a competitive advantage (41:43) Scott’s encouragement for aspiring course creators We covered a lot of ground today, so I hope you’ll drop me a line and let me know your favorite part of the conversation! Until next time… Links Bonjoro Free Trial Udemy Stack Commerce Scott’s Membership Site Scott’s Website Piano in 21 Days The Online Course Guy