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In this episode, Tara shares the top question that she is asked when working with new expert business owners. If you are looking to 'Create Your Own Future' through an expert online business, this episode is for you.
About Me:
My name is Tara Bryan. I help business owners break into the next level of success by packaging their expertise into an online course experience. It's my passion to help to find the fastest path to results to create a greater impact and income for you and your tribe.
Check out my free Step-by-Step guide to building your online course. In it are the top steps and questions you need to ask before you get started. Check it out here: https://goto.taralbryan.com/step-by-step-guide
This group is 100% focused on support, knowledge and example sharing, and building a community of online course builders who are passionate about building awesome learning experiences.
In this community, we are passionate about building learning experiences that produce results for our learners. We do that by building engaging, motivating, gamified, and learner-centered courses. We come up with ideas and strategies to ensure that our learners can thrive and succeed in our product.
To learn more:
Find us at https://www.Taralbryan.com
Here are two ways we can help you grow and scale your online course business:
1. NEED TO CREATE YOUR ONLINE COURSE?
Join LEARN ACADEMY - Learn Academy is the best Done-with-you Step-by-step Implementation program that will help you create, sell, and launch your online course.
2. ALREADY HAVE A COURSE?
Join THE COURSE EDIT - The Course Edit is a program that will assess your current online course to take it to the next level. Maybe you have a course that isn't selling or one that people aren't completing (therefore not remaining customers) then it is time for THE COURSE EDIT.
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Hey, everybody, it's Tara, Bryan, and you are
Tara Bryan:listening to the course building secrets podcast. Whether you're
Tara Bryan:a coach or a CEO, the success of your team and clients is based
Tara Bryan:on your ability to deliver a consistent experience and guide
Tara Bryan:them on the fastest path to results. This podcast will give
Tara Bryan:you practical real life tips that you can use today to build
Tara Bryan:your online experiences that get results and create raving fans.
Tara Bryan:Why? So you can monetize your expertise and serve more people
Tara Bryan:without adding more time or team to your business? If you're
Tara Bryan:looking to uncover your million dollar framework, package it and
Tara Bryan:use it to scale you're in the right place. Let's dive in. Hey,
Tara Bryan:everybody, in today's episode, I am going to cover the number one
Tara Bryan:question that a lot of people ask me, which is if I could tell
Tara Bryan:my future customers anything that would be helpful for them
Tara Bryan:to guarantee their success? What would it be? So? So often I get
Tara Bryan:this question and, and so I'm gonna address it today on the
Tara Bryan:episode because I think it's something that hopefully will
Tara Bryan:help serve you. So the the question that, or the sort of
Tara Bryan:the, the focus that I would give people around this is to develop
Tara Bryan:a business and marketing plan before you build any online
Tara Bryan:program, or product. So let me explain what I mean. So often,
Tara Bryan:when people come to me, so we do these strategy sessions is VIP
Tara Bryan:strategy sessions where people can come in, and we, we look at
Tara Bryan:not only what program they're trying to create, like, how do
Tara Bryan:you create it? What are the topics? How do you, you know,
Tara Bryan:execute on, you know, creating the hybrid experience, right,
Tara Bryan:the gamification, the videos, the workbooks, the all the
Tara Bryan:things like putting it in the platform and having a great
Tara Bryan:foundation. If you rewind all of that, before you get there, it's
Tara Bryan:really being strategic about what, what's the business that
Tara Bryan:you're creating? Why do you want to create it? How are you going
Tara Bryan:to take it from zero to scaled? Right? And what are your goals?
Tara Bryan:What's the whole purpose of you doing this? Because if it's to
Tara Bryan:make money, it's not sustainable, I'm just going to
Tara Bryan:tell you that right? Like, you could make a lot of money
Tara Bryan:building an online business, but there's going to have to be
Tara Bryan:something behind it, right, it's not just creating an online
Tara Bryan:program and throwing it out there and hoping that you get,
Tara Bryan:you know, sales from it, right, that's not the sustainable
Tara Bryan:business, you're not looking at it as a business owner, you're
Tara Bryan:looking at it as just creating a product that you're throwing out
Tara Bryan:there, which is going to be a different topic. But
Tara Bryan:incidentally, you cannot just go from like, I'm just gonna throw
Tara Bryan:something out there, put some money behind ads and hope it
Tara Bryan:sells, right. That's not really how it works in reality. So if
Tara Bryan:you have been told that from people, we need to talk, because
Tara Bryan:I'm going to help you actually get sort of grounded in reality
Tara Bryan:of what it takes to get to build your online course business. But
Tara Bryan:But the biggest mistake that people make is not thinking
Tara Bryan:about it as a business, not thinking about it as like,
Tara Bryan:foundationally, what are the key elements that go into creating a
Tara Bryan:business, and it's less about sort of the mechanics of, you
Tara Bryan:know, well, you need to be able to take in money and you need to
Tara Bryan:be able to, you know, pay taxes, you need to be able to, you
Tara Bryan:know, have a business network, it's not all about that,
Tara Bryan:necessarily, although all of those things are really
Tara Bryan:important. What foundationally it takes is, what's your plan?
Tara Bryan:Right? What what business? Are you creating? What, you know,
Tara Bryan:what are all the parts and pieces of that? And then
Tara Bryan:thinking through, you know, what are your goals? What's your
Tara Bryan:vision? What are you trying to create? Why are you trying to
Tara Bryan:create it, when you are in a position where you are in the
Tara Bryan:muck of building a business, knowing why you're doing it is
Tara Bryan:super, super important. So the very first thing that we do is
Tara Bryan:like, Okay, so what's your business strategy, right? Like,
Tara Bryan:what is the business plan that you have to build and, and scale
Tara Bryan:this online program in whatever way shape or form you are doing
Tara Bryan:it? Or, you know, it could be your whole business, right?
Tara Bryan:Like, what's your what is the delivery method that you're
Tara Bryan:using? Why are you using that delivery method? Who are you
Tara Bryan:going to help? How are you going to help them all the different
Tara Bryan:things? So that to me, is the biggest thing that's missing in
Tara Bryan:When people come to me and they're like, Oh, I, you know, I
Tara Bryan:want to start coaching, I want to start building a program, I
Tara Bryan:want to start a business online, just remember that you're
Tara Bryan:actually starting a business. So you have to go through the
Tara Bryan:mechanics of creating a business plan doesn't have to be fancy,
Tara Bryan:it just has to be planned out. So you're thinking about the
Tara Bryan:actual business that you're creating? Otherwise, you know,
Tara Bryan:you can easily go and get Kajabi or something else and put some
Tara Bryan:topics in and call it a course. Right? The mechanics of doing
Tara Bryan:that aren't necessarily difficult. What's difficult is
Tara Bryan:looking at it and saying, how do you monetize it? Right? How do
Tara Bryan:you get customers? And how do you help customers? How do you
Tara Bryan:give them a transformation? And how do you grow your program.
Tara Bryan:And so that's really what we focus on first is making sure
Tara Bryan:that you have that right foundation, part of that is,
Tara Bryan:having a well defined business plan, again, doesn't need to be
Tara Bryan:fancy, it doesn't need to be difficult just needs to have
Tara Bryan:some structure to it, then the second big thing that people do
Tara Bryan:not have is a marketing plan. And marketing is not just a seat
Tara Bryan:of your pants, get on social media and start talking kind of
Tara Bryan:thing, right? Like you actually have to plan for how you're
Tara Bryan:going to market how are you going to communicate with people
Tara Bryan:how you're going to reach people? Who is it, that's going
Tara Bryan:to be the right people for your courses, then all the tactics
Tara Bryan:help support that. But if you don't have the plan, if you
Tara Bryan:don't know what you're doing, in terms of attracting people who
Tara Bryan:you're attracting and how you're doing it, then it's just noise.
Tara Bryan:So so often, people come to me, and it's either one or two
Tara Bryan:things. One, they have no social media presence, they have no
Tara Bryan:website, they have no brand, where they're building their
Tara Bryan:authority, yet. And that is going to be a very large hurdle
Tara Bryan:to selling your program at scale. And so that's, you know,
Tara Bryan:foundationally, you need to have a plan, first and foremost, then
Tara Bryan:foundationally, you need to build that brand first, and then
Tara Bryan:have the program or product behind it. But the other problem
Tara Bryan:is, is people could have a brand, and they're out on social
Tara Bryan:media, like doing tic TOCs, or just sort of blasting different
Tara Bryan:topics. And, and so, but there's no focus to it, right, it's just
Tara Bryan:sort of random, or you, you probably have seen the people
Tara Bryan:who like every day, they're posting about a different topic.
Tara Bryan:And it's not anything related, like they're in a new business
Tara Bryan:every day. Those are the people who do not have any kind of
Tara Bryan:business plan or marketing plan ahead of time. And so they're
Tara Bryan:just sort of like praying and spraying that something is gonna
Tara Bryan:hit, like, maybe somebody's interested in this, and then
Tara Bryan:they sell that, or maybe somebody's interested in that,
Tara Bryan:and they sell that, that is not a sustainable business, that you
Tara Bryan:can build, scale, and maybe even sell at some point, right? So if
Tara Bryan:you're looking to create a real business that actually serves
Tara Bryan:your life, that that is scalable, and is something that
Tara Bryan:eventually is an asset that that helps to serve you, then to me,
Tara Bryan:those are the two things that most of the time people are
Tara Bryan:missing when they come to me. And so we spend a lot of time
Tara Bryan:thinking about that foundation, like what are the pieces, that's
Tara Bryan:the VIP strategy day that I do is like, Okay, let's take a step
Tara Bryan:back from the content itself, and think about the bigger
Tara Bryan:picture. And then we can hook everything back together. And it
Tara Bryan:helps you, you know, kind of take that pause, think about
Tara Bryan:things strategically, and then run back into the tactics and an
Tara Bryan:execution. But, but when ever known anyone ever asked me that
Tara Bryan:question, that to me is, is the foundational pieces that are
Tara Bryan:missing, and when people are marketing to you out in
Tara Bryan:Marketing Land, they're selling you on a transformation, they're
Tara Bryan:not selling you on the reality of you know, what needs to
Tara Bryan:happen. And so that's why I think a lot of times people will
Tara Bryan:fall in this trap is like, well, I can just become a coach, I can
Tara Bryan:just become an online course seller. And, and what they're
Tara Bryan:not showing you is the actual kind of business acumen that
Tara Bryan:happens before during. And then obviously after, as you're
Tara Bryan:building your business. I remember a couple years ago and
Tara Bryan:those of you who know me, as you're listening to the story
Tara Bryan:will laugh because you remember it. I was at a large conference
Tara Bryan:was at FHL a couple years ago, and this it's still like
Tara Bryan:literally sits with me daily is that there was a speaker or that
Tara Bryan:got on stage. And she, she's, you know, very successful influencer,
Tara Bryan:she got on stage and she's just like, Oh, it's just super easy
Tara Bryan:to create a course, like I just created on my yacht, I just, you
Tara Bryan:know, whipped up my iPhone and created my course and got it out
Tara Bryan:there. And it was great. But it just triggered me seem like it's
Tara Bryan:just not that simple. Like, you don't just like whip up your
Tara Bryan:iPhone and create a course off the top of your head and then
Tara Bryan:sell it for a million bucks. It's not what happens. So that's
Tara Bryan:the sort of the marketing lens of things, gives you the sort of
Tara Bryan:the cooking show. result, right, like I always call it the
Tara Bryan:cooking show result where you know that you were watching a
Tara Bryan:cooking show, and they put all the ingredients together, and
Tara Bryan:then they're like, and then it takes an hour in the oven, but
Tara Bryan:they have the finished version just right there. And, and so
Tara Bryan:what you aren't seeing or aren't hearing about because she's not
Tara Bryan:telling you about it is all of the parts and pieces that went
Tara Bryan:up to the place where she could lift up her phone and do a
Tara Bryan:course like she didn't just like randomly one day, you know, go
Tara Bryan:up and start filming her her program, right. She's got a huge
Tara Bryan:audience, she's got an established business, she
Tara Bryan:probably had been thinking about the framework for months. And
Tara Bryan:just the act of recording, it was the last step. But that's
Tara Bryan:the step that she led with, like, it's so easy, you could
Tara Bryan:just do it, you just can do it on your iPhone. But there's all
Tara Bryan:of this happening behind the scenes, that's not being talked
Tara Bryan:about. And so it's just it was interesting. Now, kind of
Tara Bryan:reflecting back, like I said, I think it was about four years
Tara Bryan:ago, maybe maybe a little bit more, reflecting back, but I
Tara Bryan:mean, I was super fired up because I was like, That is a
Tara Bryan:disservice to the world to just say that it's that simple. And
Tara Bryan:people try it and then they fail. And then they think
Tara Bryan:there's something wrong with them. Right? Like, to me, that's
Tara Bryan:a disservice to that person who's trying to build their own
Tara Bryan:online powered empire, right? Because it's possible. But it's
Tara Bryan:not that simple. And so those, those are the pieces that in my
Tara Bryan:mind, she wasn't sharing, right, she wasn't sharing that she
Tara Bryan:already had probably, you know, I don't even know how many
Tara Bryan:people she has on her list. million people on her list,
Tara Bryan:right, she's already had four or five programs that have been
Tara Bryan:super successful. And this was a an additional one for her
Tara Bryan:existing audience that she already had. Right? She's very
Tara Bryan:strategic and intentional about how she's built her business.
Tara Bryan:But that isn't what she was sharing. And, and so to me,
Tara Bryan:that's what I want to share with you today is that if you can get
Tara Bryan:these foundational pieces, marketing becomes really easy,
Tara Bryan:because you've already defined who it is you're you're wanting
Tara Bryan:to talk to how do you want to talk to them? What do they need
Tara Bryan:to hear in order to pull them towards you? And and then you
Tara Bryan:can, you know, already have a pre existing list of people that
Tara Bryan:you're you're out there trying to target, you have a brand and
Tara Bryan:an online presence that exists. So when people are sort of
Tara Bryan:looking at like, Who are you and what do you have to offer, it's
Tara Bryan:already there, and you're not trying to climb up a giant
Tara Bryan:mountain when you're trying to sell your program. Because I'll
Tara Bryan:tell you, I have people who join me in a VIP and they have no
Tara Bryan:business, they have no online presence, they have nothing
Tara Bryan:built. And they want to go from concept to a million dollar
Tara Bryan:launch in 30 days. And they're being 100% serious. And it's
Tara Bryan:just not reality, it's possible to get to a million dollars in
Tara Bryan:sales. But there's a lot of different sort of foundational
Tara Bryan:pieces that need to be put in place first, in order to help
Tara Bryan:you run and make that happen as quickly as possible. So there
Tara Bryan:you go, that is my corresponding tip for today. Again, kind of
Tara Bryan:the number one thing that I wish people knew, as they were
Tara Bryan:starting out that having these plans in place allow you to move
Tara Bryan:really, really quickly. And get to that, that place that you
Tara Bryan:want to get to write. But if you don't have these plans, and
Tara Bryan:you're just sort of praying and spraying and putting a bunch of
Tara Bryan:stuff on on tick tock and thinking that that's the thing
Tara Bryan:that is going to bring all of these people to you in mass,
Tara Bryan:it's not going to happen. I hate to be the one to break it to
Tara Bryan:you. Maybe it would be better if I were to stand up on stage and
Tara Bryan:say all you got to do is just like record on your iPhone and
Tara Bryan:you'll get a million bucks. Maybe that's maybe that's a
Tara Bryan:sexier message, I don't know. But the reality is, is that we
Tara Bryan:can help you get there quickly, with the right pieces in place.
Tara Bryan:And, and those are, that's just sort of what I wish people were
Tara Bryan:actually talking about online is that people who succeed are the
Tara Bryan:ones that have a plan and a strategy in place. It's not the
Tara Bryan:ones that are just sort of, you know, showing up every day on
Tara Bryan:tick tock and expecting to see a business happen because it's not
Tara Bryan:going to happen. It may be it may be you get sales, right, but
Tara Bryan:you're not actually going to have a sustainable business
Tara Bryan:that's going to serve you over time. So there you go. That is
Tara Bryan:my tip for today. If you are looking for those components,
Tara Bryan:we're gonna be launching an online course powered business
Tara Bryan:plan template on the site that you can go and grab. But I'm
Tara Bryan:also more than happy to walk through your specific business,
Tara Bryan:your specific idea and in really help you build that, that proper
Tara Bryan:foundation, as in the VIP session that we do. So give me a
Tara Bryan:shout if you're interested in that. Otherwise, I will see you
