The 4 Unexpected Benefits Of Creating A Digital Course

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the You Can podcast. I'm your host Sarah Jolly Jarvis and today we're going to be talking all around courses and why courses are so much more than just stopping you're trading your time for money.
And that's the funny thing here is like that in itself should be enough but actually the pros for courses goes way beyond just that ability to switch from trading your time for money to being in a position where you don't actually have to be present to be adding value to your clients and supporting them on their learning journey or whatever journey it is that you take them on. Why do I love courses so much? Well they give you so much freedom, they give you so much flexibility.
I've seen the impact that they have had on my own business, I've seen what they've done for clients and so yes I am really passionate over helping them fit into your business where appropriate and that's the thing is the courses are not for everybody, you're not necessarily at the right stage in your business for courses and so just to kind of reiterate where you want to be when you start looking at courses because there are so many people out there who unscrupulously they put courses there as a potential way of generating interest generating money and they make it sound very very easy and for those individuals it normally is very easy because they already have an audience they're already known for something they've already got themselves established and so people buy into

those products because they believe that that person will be able to help them because they

have seen their case studies their testimonials they've seen that person around and they're somebody that they they know like and trust and so it's very easy for them to make that step and to purchase from them and the expectation is is you know what i probably won't be able to afford to work with this individual one-to-one or in a group setting and actually get a piece of their time and so yes i am absolutely going to settle for a course and so you know if you've got the likes of tony robbins and well-known individuals like that who they create a course and obviously they are going to sell it um it is going to do well because of their name, because of their reputation that goes before them. When you are first starting out, it does not matter how good you are.
If people don't know you, if people don't know, like and trust you because they don't know you because they've never heard of you before, then they are unlikely to take that plunge, to take that risk and to purchase a course from you. Individuals who don't know you very well actually a lot more likely to figure you out want to call with you see how they feel about you and

then go on to purchase from you probably on a more one-to-one basis so that yes they're absolutely getting more more time with you and that's potentially a higher financial commitment but they've done that based on their experience and having that conversation with you when you are selling courses the idea of a course is is that it is low maintenance it doesn't require your time so you're not going to be wanting to get onto a call with somebody specifically to sell them your course saying that i often point people in the direction of digital resources and courses and resources where they're going to spend less time with me if they are an appropriate option for them. And so you might refer to that as a down sell.
So they may have come onto the call to want to talk to you about one-to-one work. They might not be in the right place.
They might not have been in the right financial position to make that investment. And then that's when you would point them in the direction of a course.
So it kind of, you're probably expecting what I'm going to say next when I say that actually courses fit in very, very nicely once you are established. Okay.
So once you have a customer base, you are getting clients, you are getting people buying from you and purchasing programs or sessions with you on a one-to-one basis. When you are in that position where you're like, you know what? Yeah, yeah I'm actually getting people my biggest problem isn't getting clients it might be you're still a little bit inconsistent with that because it's a bit feast and famine because your attention is on it then it's not because you're delivering etc etc but you are certainly not in a position where you are like you know what I have no income coming in and I have no clients and I've had nobody who's wanted to work with me one-to-one if you've had had nobody work with you one-to-one, you do not want to create a course right now.
What you want to do is better understand your ideal client and that means working with them on a more closely, close basis and getting involved more in that sales process. Courses help you to take a step back.
If you haven't got things already established, if things aren't already running smoothly, this is not the time to take a step back. You want to be in there, in the action, understand what's going on so that you can better talk to your ideal client, attract your ideal client and convince them that you are the best opportunity for them.
So courses, they come in often when people are realising that, you know what, I want my business to be a little bit more independent. I don't want to have to be present all the time in order for it to be generating money I don't want to be in a position where I can't take a day off sick because if I take a day off sick then I'm not going to get any money in I can't go on holiday if I do then I have to factor in the fact that I'm not going to generate any income while during the time that I'm away etc et cetera, et cetera.
Also, there's an efficiencies thing where I have so many one-to-one clients that I can't possibly fit in anymore. And so therefore, what do I do? I keep raising my prices, which is going to price out some of the people that I actually enjoy working with.
Or I look at an alternative way of working. Most people at this stage jump to groups.
And some, a lot of my clients to be fair um some businesses out there are not suited for group scenarios because that the information that you go through is quite personal the um the conversations you have to have are quite bespoke and therefore it's not a case of turn up for a session with with a group other people. And you can go through that information and impart that data, that advice, those skills.

And so what happens is you end up continuing on that one-to-one basis because you have no idea what else to do.

And a lot of my clients, when they come to me, they're in a position where they are doing one-to-one.

The clients which end up creating courses, the vast majority of them have already got a customer base. And they are in a position where they are doing one-to-one to the clients which end up creating courses the vast majority of them have already got a customer base and they are in a position

where they wanted to scale they wanted to make things more sustainable and having a course is a way of doing that they can step back they can deliver some in person and some training is delivered independently that's what I call a hybrid so people are able to tap into their knowledge and skills even when when that individual isn't there. That enables, and this is where I'm going to come on to how it's so much more.
Okay. I've got kind of four key areas where there are some real value in having a course, not just to step away from that time for money, but also first one up is consistency in that training.
We all have a bad day. day we can forget to mention something we can add something new in um you know if you're repeating the same thing you're going to say it slightly differently i had to re-record a podcast today with somebody that i interviewed and we went around the same subject but we covered a whole different area from last time because every time you do something every time you cover the same ground you're going to just to say it differently deliver it differently sometimes better sometimes not so well but you can have that consistency in your training okay you can do a great job you can have that job recorded you can record it whilst presenting to other people you can record it on your own um whichever you prefer okay and then that individual can complete that training anytime they like.
Okay. They can get a high quality version of you whenever they want.
Whereas, you know, otherwise you have to agree a mutually convenient time. And then you have to impart that information.
You might be having an off day. You might not feel very well.
You might have things going on. You might not do as good a job as normal people often say to me but wait a minute what happens if i'm adding stuff in and things can get better you can always add to that training you can always record that training but you know if you if only two or three people watch that training um during the time that it's up there before it gets updated that is still a time saving on the time that you would have spent imparting that individual information to those individuals separately okay so whether you're sick you're on holiday you're having an off day your course stays consistent and your course delivers without you being there at any time of day or night which obviously then opens up a whole new area of the globe where you might not be able to deliver training live because of time differences for example so that is one thing is your consistency in training another thing is having a permanent record of your knowledge i took on one of my clients recently on the courses to convert program and they are in a position where they are coming to the end of their career and they have so much knowledge and they want to be able to put that knowledge down in a way in a format that is accessible to other individuals which will enable them to between juggling client meetings managing your website keeping up to date with everyday tasks who has time to stress about website security with Kinsta, they take care of the technical stuff so you can focus on what you do best, which is probably not website security.
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To have that information going forwards, yes it could potentially pay them into retirement but equally it can be there as a legacy for somebody else to build on. Somebody who might not even be in that profession right now somebody who might not even um be switched on to um the topic that this individual covers but it will be there it is there recorded for future generations and for future individuals to use and that has a really nice bit of a sort of legacy around it So one example of that is, you know, I will come on to in a minute with the long term client support.
But having that permanent record, a decent permanent record is really, really handy. From the long term client support, which is my kind of next point, it's around the same sort of idea, but actually it can help continue.
so rather than it just being built on and having those kind of next point it's around the same sort of idea but actually it can help continue so rather than it just being built on and having just kind of um sharing your knowledge and knowledge sharing which some organizations spend thousands if not millions on um to get that knowledge shared within the organization and kept within the organization even when people retire or are no longer with us um the other thing that you're thinking around is it's not just preserving that information so it can be built on but also having that information there for long-term client support. I suddenly had an individual that I worked with who passed away suddenly and his clients are still able to access his knowledge and his skills and the impact that he can have on people through the resources that he had digitally recorded.
It's not ideal and it's not something you really want to think about on a regular basis, but we're not going to be around forever. But actually that person had built up a large client base.
It was very unexpected that he passed away. And so they were to tap into that so you know you've got that continued support for that customer base and that had become dependent on him long after he was no longer available if he had not have created any digital resources those individuals would have nothing they'd have no resources to use to draw upon to continue to help them um so you know that is well worth thinking about not just the retaining of your knowledge but also being able to still impart it and have an impact on people long after um you are no longer here the other thing that i wanted to mention and my kind of fourth and final point is reach and impact of people you know you've never met it always still um absolutely my mind is boggled by the impact that I can have and the amount of people who say to me oh yeah you know I really enjoyed this training I get on sales calls with people and they're like yeah I the reason why I've reached out to you is because I really like your training style and I have to and it takes me a moment sometimes to be like where have they seen my training style because I created a training course I've created a number of training courses and they're out there and people can purchase them and people purchase them without me even knowing that individual and so the first time that I've met them is on the sales call they've met me in the trainings you know hour after hour that they've gone through um depending on on which courses and how many courses they've purchased and so you know it gives them a real nice flavor of what it is that you do and you know don't let that be something that you overlook um because very often people will choose people based on you know what i like the style of teaching this works for me their language works for me their accent works for me because you know as much as I wouldn't like to think it there are people out there who will find my voice really annoying which makes me feel a little bit sad but I'll try not and be upset about it but I'm not that person I'm not the right person for them I'm not the right person for them to learn from if actually it's all a bit gritty.
They're better off finding somebody who they do enjoy listening to, who they do feel more aligned to. And that gives you the opportunity to let people, of course, let people tap into that.
They get a little flavor for you without you having to spend any time with them without you you know wasting any time um talking to an individual who actually isn't that enthusiastic about you and i guess you know in a roundabout way that means that that saves you from having that not so good feedback you know your people find you because they reach out to you the people who aren't your people uh don't say anything and normally quietly you know go on their way and find somebody else who is more suited to them but you are reaching and having an impact on so many more people than you could have if you delivered a group or one-to-one that's the thing if you think about it you know i have sold very close to now 3 000 copies of my women's wealth formula course which talks through natural. And those individuals have gone off.
And some of those individuals have learned that they've implemented it, they haven't needed any more help. And I have no idea who those people are.
But I have had an impact on their business. And I have helped them to make themselves more successful.
How amazing is that even to be part of a small part of that entire journey and and not of even you know it hasn't cost me any time because once I've created that course for one person you know the other nearly 3 000 people um are benefiting from it in exactly the same way so you know being able to reach people and as I said sort of earlier on the podcast that being able to reach people in different time zones you're no longer restricted those restrictions are no longer there you are free to support people wherever they are in the world and whatever time zone they are which really does open up opportunities and that is why courses are so I'm so passionate about courses they are such a great opportunity they are why I focus my attention on growth within a business on courses because I believe that they are the key to giving you more flexibility in your business giving you some of your time back whilst actually having a greater impact and I just don't believe that you can do that using any other method you can have a team you can grow a team but that comes with its own complications and sets of skills whereas actually the delivering of a course worst case scenario you're terrible at technology and you need somebody else to edit or record it for you that is which I really don't think you would but you could need that is very small in comparison to the HR and the people management and everything else that you'd have to go through and repeatedly go through when you look at bringing on members of staff, for example. So creating a course is so much more than just avoiding trading your time for money.
It opens up a whole new realm of opportunity for you as a business but also for your for your customer base um it is not the answer to a too few inquiries or not having enough customers or not having enough conversions it isn't even really the answer to attracting and to supporting people who can't afford you um i always encourage people to edge on the side of caution with that. Obviously for some people they are a great alternative, they're a great option to support that group of individuals who you have switched on but who can't afford your high ticket.
But if you're hearing that time and time again it might not be that you are in a position where your customer base can't afford you it may be that they don't see the value your value proposition etc etc isn't strong enough and so I would highly encourage you to get support with your offer before going down the course's route but for somebody who has got clients coming in and has got clients reasonably consistently coming in and are getting results and testimonials from clients, courses are a fantastic next step option. So please, please do consider them.
If you want to talk to me, because I always love talking about courses, if you want to sense check the situation that you're in and see if courses are the right next step for you, then do book call the link is at the bottom in the show notes you can email me at sarah at you can.online and i can send you a link to have to book a quick chat with me in my diary and we can get you figuring out if courses are the next step for you so that's it for me guys this week i hope you have enjoyed this episode in next week's episode i'm going to be talking to the lovely cheryl sharp we're going to be talking around

basically taking adversity coming out of adversity and making opportunities from it

and she will be sharing her journey with me next week so that's it for me guys

have a great rest of your week bye for now