How Do You Know Which KIND of Online Course, Program or Experience Is Best to Create?

Hey, everybody, it's Tara Bryan, and you are listening to the course building secrets podcast. Whether you're a coach or a CEO, the success of your team and clients is based on your ability to deliver a consistent experience and guide them on the fastest path to results. This podcast will give you practical real life tips that you can use today to build your online experiences that get results and create raving fans. Why? So you can monetize your expertise and serve more people without adding more time for team to your business? If you're looking to uncover your million dollar framework, package it and use it to scale you're in the right place. Let's dive in. Hey, everybody, welcome to today's episode. In this episode, I am going to talk about something that

I was just talking to a colleague about yesterday, which is how do you want to like show up in your building your online business. So so often when people start off, unfortunately, they're given somewhat bad advice, right? They're given advice, like, if you just package what you do, or you come up with something around your expertise that you want to package that you can just like, turn it into a course, put it out there and run ads to it and sell it, and it's gonna be great. And you don't need to really do a whole lot in order to make all of that happen in and to be successful. And here's the reality is, that rarely happens. And if it happens, it's because you already have an established audience, you've already built up demand, and you already have something else. That's sort of the engine that's driving that level of success. And so so most of the time when I'm working with my customers is like, Okay, so do you want to create kind of that autopilot asset that goes out and just, you know, runs in the background? Or is it something that you're trying to build a business around, and you want to grow and scale it, you want it to be something that allows you to serve and help your people and also maximize your time. And most of the time, that's actually what people want, right is, it's not so much you want to create something and that touch it and just put it out there and hope that people can successfully go through it, you want to create a good foundation, you want to create a business around it, which means looking beyond the kind of the one thing and looking at the journey or experience that you are creating for somebody as they come into your world. And as they continue to progress and move through, you know, the various programs and offers and different things that you have. And to do that it's really looking beyond that one transaction, it's really looking beyond that one course or that one module, or that one since, like, piece of information that you want to give to people. It's really about what is the problem that you're trying to help somebody solve? And how do you help them achieve the goals that they have. And most of the time that is not necessarily happening in one course, or one program, it's happening sort of in levels or phases or progressions, however you want to think of it. And so when you when you think about that, it does require you to be more hands on it does require you to have additional options for people to engage in, interact and participate in what you're offering. And you know what I'm going to be honest, most of the time, when you have a business or you're creating a business, that's actually what you want to do, right? You want to create something that allows you to interact and engage and participate with the people that you're serving. Most of us don't like to just be completely hands off with the people that we're serving. And, and so when I'm helping people, what I'm doing is I'm helping them see not only how do you create kind of that framework or foundation for how you help people, right? So the framework of like, how do you take somebody from where they are today to where you want them to go. And like really put that into sort of a systematic process that allows you to,

you know, not only, like create a business around it, but also to be able to package it and maximize your time. And so what that looks like is that you're creating something online, in a package way a program a course or whatever that actually is helping your customers get to a specific place. And it's allowing you to not repeat yourself 5 million times every single time you have a customer, right. And so you're really sort of dialing in

the way that you're progressing somebody through a particular challenge a particular problem, a particular thing that they're trying to learn to build a skill level, and then are round that you're creating an experience that helps them actually apply, it helps them actually do what you want them to do to get to success, right. And, and so sometimes that's in one on one interaction, sometimes it's in a group interaction, sometimes it's in a live event, sometimes it's in a virtual event, sometimes it's in,

you know, a video or it's in a response to something or it's a personalized email, whatever it is, you're thinking about the learner, or your customer, and how, like the journey that they're going on and how they need to progress through something, because usually, learning isn't necessarily a straight line, right? Learning isn't, you do this, you watch this thing, and then magically, it happens, there's a, you know, watch this thing or learn this thing, then apply it, then get feedback and adjust, and then keep going. Right, that's like just the beginning, when you give somebody I don't like to call it information, but when you give somebody the sort of the teaching framework that you're giving them, either a model or a step by step or some way for them to sort of digest how to think, or, or examples of what to do, you have to give them that context, right. And then you put them in action as quickly as possible, because as you know, like, if you think about it, you don't actually learn passively, you have to do something in order to like adjust and, and be able to really gain mastery. And so the faster you can get them to that place, and then support them along the way, feedback, coaching, mentoring,

you know, just even being there for support, right, all of those things, help them actually get to that transformation, or that result that you are promising to get to them. And so that benefits the customer, your customer that you have, it also benefits you because you get to sort of stay engaged, but you get to stay engaged in a way that maximizes your time. And it allows you to sort of

not take control, it's not necessarily the right word, but it allows you to be you know, be able to sort of manage the work, manage the relationship, manage what's happening, because you, you define the steps that it takes along the way, think about either if you've worked with someone, or you have been in this position where you're sort of making stuff up as you go, right happens a lot when you're trying something new. When you hire a coach, when you hire a mentor, when you hire somebody who's who you're going into their program, you expect them to be able to guide you down a path. And honestly, you expect them to know what the path is and be able to define it. So it you can, you know, you can get there faster than trying to meander through it on your own. And so if you're the coach, if you're the mentor, if you're the teacher, well, however you want to identify, then your job is to create that clear path to create that, that fast path for them. So they don't have to meander, right? You're like a Google map, right? Where you you know, somebody's typing in the address of where they want to go from where they are right now. And, and they're going to go directly there, right? If you don't put your coordinates in a map, you just like say, I'm just gonna go that direction? Sure, you're gonna go that direction, but how long is it going to take you to get there, you don't really know. Because you don't know the roads, you don't know, where the detours are, you don't know where you're gonna get stuck, you don't know if you're gonna end up on a dirt road, right? Like you don't know any of those things. That's your job as the mentor is to give them that path. And then when they hit those detours, when they hit those dead ends, when they hit kind of places where they're getting tripped up, you're there to catch their fall and keep moving them forward. Because sometimes it's about having a question like, oh, I don't really understand this. But a lot of times, it's like, well, I don't know if I can do this or something is coming up that's in their way, maybe clarity or focus or something else. And so your job is to help them through that. So when you're creating a program, and I call those hybrid course experiences or program experiences, where you're doing both you have a package program and you have some sort of live mentoring coaching component to it. What that does is it brings both elements together and provides an experience or a journey for people so they can become successful. faster because

As you're helping them navigate, so there are options, right? Like, you could choose to do an auto pilot, you could, you know, create a course and put it out there and have people consume it without you.

You can create an experience, like I've been talking about, or you can, you know, create all sorts of other types of high touch programs, right? Like, there's lots of different options. But the important thing to do is when you're starting, or if you kind of found yourself like, in that place of wanting to scale wanting to sort of leverage your time a little bit better. It's really looking at what experience you want to create for your people. And then how do you want to show up? What does that look like? So often, people say, I just want to create an auto pilot course. And then they get distracted, right, because like, they're not helping anybody anymore, because it's already done. And they don't have to do anything else. So they either keep fixing it, or they'd work on another project, right. And so the, which defeats the purpose of, you know, what you've been doing up until that point to,

to leverage your time. And so that that's normal, right? Like, that's what we all do. But it's really thinking about what you need, as well. And most of the time, it's like, if I just had all of these things dialed in, then I can show up, that's when people usually have the best experience. Just as a quick sidebar, if you are going to do an autopilot course, I'm going to tell you that there's a very specific way to create those that do actually provide value. And it's not just dumping in a bunch of information, and videos and all the things and hoping that somebody can go through it. No, you're creating an automated

experience for somebody where you're still doing all of the things, you're just doing them in a virtual, I call it virtual you, right, you're doing it as a virtual

virtual coach. And so you have to think about it that way. It's not just about dumping information in and putting it out there, it's about if you're going to create an autopilot course, you need to orchestrate the experience that somebody has in an automated way. Totally different than just, you know, throwing your iPhone up and, and recording your random thoughts about what the topic is that you want to teach. Now, it's not that you're doing that, I know you're not doing that. I'm not belittling what you've done or your course or whatever. But there's a very different, very strategic way to

automate an experience for someone so they can become successful even when you're not there. One story I tell all the time, and I'll repeat it today, as I'm talking about this, because it all kind of comes full circle is a couple of years ago, I was at an event and somebody came up to me, one of my students came up to me and he was like, Oh, my gosh, what you taught me this morning was amazing. Like, it totally changed everything. And I was able to go out and do the thing. And here are the results that I got. I don't remember exactly what the details were. But, um,

and I looked at him, and I'm like, I wasn't with you this morning. What are you talking about? And he's like, Oh, my gosh, of course, you weren't with me this morning. I was watching your training on XYZ. And that was such a game changer, that it helped me take action and the way that I needed to take. And it was amazing. And I was like, Oh, thanks. That was great. Like, I'm thanks for the feedback. I appreciate that, like the, you know, the orchestrated experience that I had created was working in that. And that was awesome. But the bigger thing that that showed me is that he didn't really differentiate whether or not I was teaching him live at that moment, or I was teaching him in a virtual environment. And that is the power. If you do this correctly, that your learner's are each going to have so not only do you feel awesome, because you're you're able to help your people and serve them at the highest level. But you're able to do it in a virtual environment, which really is a game changer in terms of changing the way that you show up and help people.

And so, I challenge you to first consider like, which kind of online business do you want to have, right? Do you want to have something that's more autopilot that's running on its own? Do you want to have a hybrid experience? Or do you want to have a high touch experience? Is everything going to be done for you? Right when everything's done for you? It's awesome because you get to have really great relationships with your clients. But you Max

So, right, you are doing everything for your clients. And and I don't know about you, but sometimes I love my clients dearly, but sometimes they take up a lot of my time, right? And so, you know, think about how do you want to show up? What does that look like? And then just know that each one of those has a very specific model, in terms of how to help people actually engage and help people be successful. So that is my message for you today. And and you just got a little bit of a look over the shoulder of this conversation I was having yesterday of like, how do you do that? How do you get people engaged? What does that look like? And, and and how do you need to show up to make all that happen? So there you go, that is my course billing tip for today, is really think through all of that before you determine like, Oh, I'm just gonna throw it out there and get ads, or I'm gonna create a done for you, you know, thing or one on one or whatever it is that you're trying to create. Think about both sides, like how do you create that experience, either live or virtual? Or automated, virtual, right? Like, what does that look like? And then just know that there's a very specific model that makes all that happen, that helps you people be successful, even when you're not in front of them live. So there you go. That is my tip for today, if you're looking for more tips on how to make that happen, or what that model is, I have lots of episodes on that. But reach out, we'd love to have a conversation with you about that. If you're curious about what that looks like, and why sort of the traditional outline information model that we all went through in education system is not the best model when you're moving into an online environment is in fact not even the best model when you're in a live education environment. But that's for another day.