Watch the video above or read below!

I’m going to tell you the truth about online course creation and it’s something that may surprise you.

So you’ve decided to create an online course. You have an idea and your brain starts buzzing. You start thinking through everything, you jot down ideas.

You have a perfect vision that your course is going to be fantastic. And it’s going to sell like crazy. So, now it’s time to take that buzzing in your brain, and put those ideas into action.

Once you start taking action and building your course, you might have a little bit of doubt creep in. When that happens, you have encountered the number one issue that people come across when creating their online courses and membership  – that is mindset.

Mindset is a tricky thing. It can make you feel like the issues you’re having are on a tactical level, and that it’s just a simple problem you can find the answer to

But what’s actually happening is your subconscious trying to hold you back from something you might not even be aware of.

There are three mindset blocks that people run across when it comes to creating and releasing an online course or membership:

1. Overwhelm
2. Overthinking or indecision
3. Doubt.

Overwhelm

When you’re in the midst of creating a course, there are so many things going on. The abundance of details can make you freeze because you can’t focus on the next thing to do, or you don’t even know what to do in the first place!

Overthinking and Indecision

Sometimes you get so stuck on a detail that you really don’t know which route to take. Should you do Option A or Option B?

The potential error of that decision can really keep you frozen. You feel like you can’t move past this point, unless you know which option will have the best chance of success.

Doubt

Have you ever told yourself this? I don’t know if I really should be creating this course. I don’t know if I have enough expertise. I don’t know if people really want to hear what I have to say. Maybe this isn’t for me, maybe I shouldn’t be doing this. 

You’re doubting your ability to deliver and your brain is trying to talk you out of the discomfort of putting yourself out there.

When you run into these mindset issues, something happens that often masks the fact that it’s a mindset issue, rather than a tactical or strategy issue.

The problem doesn’t always sound like a mindset issue at first, but here’s how you can tell…

You may say you don’t have time. You’re so busy and you start making excuses for the reasons that you can’t get your course done.

You can also tell yourself you have to get this exactly right. You can become a perfectionist and every single detail has to be perfect before you can move on, or maybe you start changing directions.

You can never settle on anything. And just when you make progress on one part, you step back and you don’t like what you see. You quickly switch directions. You shift away.

If any of those sound like you, that might be mindset issues in disguise.

How do you get past these mindset issues?

First, you need to ask yourself what the real issue is. If it’s overwhelm, it’s time to jot down all the steps that you can think of and then prioritize them.

Start working through the list and cross them off one by one. Keep your focus on one thing only. The key here is not to get overwhelmed with other steps and not to think ahead of the things that you have to be doing next. Keep your focus on that one item and little by little, you will get there.

If the problem is overthinking or indecision, the solution is simple but frustration – and that’s to just make a decision. You will make mistakes, but making a mistake and correcting it is much better than never launching.

You’re going to have to get comfortable with making a decision, even at the risk that it may not be the right decision. Focus on moving forward – no matter how small the step. Momentum gets you going and the hurdles get smaller and smaller.

If you’re having doubt, try to think about what you’re awesome at. Make sure you’re teaching something that really lights you up and you have confidence in yourself. People do want to hear from you. Even if there are lots of other people out there teaching the same things, you’re going to bring a different unique spin to it.

People are going to resonate with the way you present it. There’s definitely room for you to teach your unique way and find a unique audience that’s right for you.

The #1 thing that stops most people from finishing and successfully launching their course is MINDSET
Click To Tweet

Now that you’ve started to uncover your mindset issues, it’s time to take action. Pick one thing and move forward to help get you past that hump.

Once you clear that block, pick another thing, and then another. Things will start to move more smoothly.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help and accountability. There’s lots of people out there willing to answer your questions and help you. It helps to have an accountability partner – someone you can talk to about what you are doing and have them hold you accountable to meeting your goals and making progress.

Whether it’s overwhelm, overthinking, indecision, or doubt that’s holding you back from getting your course out into the world, it may not always be obvious.

Take a step back and ask yourself, what is at the core that’s really holding you back? If you need more support getting over mindset blocks and taking the next step in launching your online course or membership, sign up for my waitlist to be notified as soon as I release something really exciting. It will help you overcome the obstacles preventing you from launching, whether it’s mindset or not.

Watch the video above or read below!

When it comes to project planning, one of the most common problems is that we get caught in the weeds. When many of us plan a project, we usually start with we perceive as a brilliant idea.

Then we plan out some broad ideas, but we don’t flesh them out enough and jump quickly into creation. There’s nothing wrong with creation – it’s my favorite part of the process. In fact, sometimes it’s better to jump into action when you’ve got the momentum, but most often we forget to step back and look at the big picture to make sure we’re on course.

How a flight in an airplane can help you plan a project

Imagine you’re in an airplane and as you take off, you’re watching everything below you get tinier and tinier until all you can see are little squares of land. The same thing happens when you land, just in reverse.

Your perspective changes as you change elevation. Sometimes you see the big picture, sometimes you see the tiny details like little ants on the ground.

This relates to the amount of detail that we need to view in our projects. When you’re starting a project, start at the 30,000 foot level. This is the highest view from your airplane. You can’t really see the detail right now, but you can see and plan the master plan.

Then as your plane begins to land, things starts to come more into focus around 15,000 feet. This is the Altitude of Integration. This is where you’ll start to assemble the requirements to make the project actually happen. But you’re still very connected to your vision and your overall strategy for the project.

(Hey, if this makes sense to you, please share with your connections on Twitter – just click below)

The Altitude of Integration is that magical place where your big picture strategy and the mechanics of implementation intersect
Click To Tweet

Once you’re clear on the makeup of the Altitude of Integration, it’s time to land the plane. You’ll start to look out the window around 1,000 feet, see most of the detail and brace yourself for what is hopefully a smooth landing.

My favorite time to watch out the window during a flight is when we near the ground and can start seeing everything come together. This is where the implementation takes shape. You’ll dive into the tech, graphic design, copywriting and all of the technical pieces.

However, we can’t stay focused on the ground too long, or we’ll miss the magic of the entire flight. The trick is being able to quickly and easily jump back up and down these altitudes. That’s a muscle that gets developed over time.

When you have the ability to flow between the altitudes easily is when you know you won’t leave any stones unturned. And as long as you fight overwhelm and keep moving, you’ll end up with a successful project.

This process gives us a common place to communicate with others about your project. Your technical team members will likely be speaking at a 1000 foot level. They’re concerned with the mechanics and the fine details of how the project needs to be done.

A project manager or a virtual assistant is going to view things at a 15,000-foot level – occasionally looking down to a 1000 foot level and sometimes up to a 30,000-foot level.

You can use the process of changing your perspectives as a way to calibrate your team and make sure you’re not missing any important steps in your project.

It helps to have this mapped out in a document so you can see all the views at once. The easiest way to do this is just to grab a piece of paper and make three columns, 30,000, 15,000 and 1000. Start in the 30,000-foot column and make bullets of your vision for your overall strategy. Now break down that vision into smaller chunks.

What pieces do you need to make that vision a reality? Put those in the 15,000 feet column, and now break down all those pieces into technical detail. Are there specific settings you need to use, specific graphics you need to order, copy you can write? This is now a task list for you and your team.

Put those small details in the 1000 foot column. As you’re creating this, if you find yourself jumping up and down in altitudes, don’t hesitate to move over to other columns and fill them in. It’s better to get those ideas out of your head and on paper, and then go back through each column to be sure you covered everything.

Make sure everyone on the team has access to this document, so everyone knows what goal they’re after. That’s how you can make sure your project isn’t running in silos and your implementation matches your big picture plan.

If you want a copy of my elevation project planner, enter your name and email below and I’ll send it to you.

Watch the video above or read below!

The world of online learning has exploded! And it seems like everyone and their cousin’s best friend are selling a course or membership. But it’s no wonder – they work!

The online education market will reach $350 billion by 2025 according to Research & Markets.

Especially with the COVID pandemic shaking up the way we work and learn, small & medium businesses and large corporations are the biggest consumers of online learning, with education sectors increasing demand exponentially. 

With that kind of demand, it would be foolish NOT to take your expertise and package it up in a way that people will pay to consume.

I know what you’re thinking…”but there’s already a course on becoming a cat lady – why should I create another one?” 

Yes, you may be duplicating the content of something that’s already out there. BUT,  you present your material in a way only you can. The right person is out there that needs to hear your delivery and the way you explain it differently than anyone else.

But before you go spending your life savings on hiring a developer to build you the fanciest membership portal you can think of, you need to start by carefully planning your course or membership first.

And while you’re doing that, here are 3 mistakes that guarantee your program will flop.

Creating the Course YOU Want (Not the Course Your Audience Needs)

You may have a great deal of knowledge in a particular area that you can teach others. You might think you know exactly what kind of course your audience would like. But it’s a fatal mistake to create the course you want rather than the course your audience needs.

It’s easy to dive right in and create a course based on what you think you should teach, but it’s not likely to reach a great number of people or earn you a profit. And then, what’s the point? You’ll have a highly informative course that no one signs up for.

Instead, you should start by considering your ideal customer. What problems are they struggling with? What do they need to know? What are their interests? Once you have some ideas, consider how you can help them. Try to match your audience’s needs to your skills and expertise.

For example, you may find out through surveys that your email subscribers want to know more about using LinkedIn. You can take your knowledge and experience with LinkedIn and create a course that teaches them how to set up a profile and use it.

And don’t forget about delivery and experience. When you’re surveying, be sure to ask how your audience likes to learn. Do they prefer videos or audio? Short, bite-sized clips or longer lectures? Do they need a schedule to follow each lesson one-by-one, or do they want to access the entire content and pace themselves?

These factors will impact sales, but more importantly, they’ll impact the number of users who actually complete the course, rather than tiring out and stopping part-way through. 

(Hey, if this makes sense to you, please share with your connections on Twitter – just click below)

When creating an #onlinecourse, instead of focusing entirely on sales, focus on student completion rate and #retention. Satisfied student #referrals will increase your #sales.
Click To Tweet

Making Your Course Too Long and Packing it with Too Much Content

Naturally, you have a great deal of knowledge you want to drop on your course participants. It also makes perfect sense that a longer course is more bang for the buck. A long and thorough course theoretically offers more value to its participants.

The problem is that if your course is too long, it might overwhelm your students. You might lose some of them along the way. The best courses are tightly focused. They teach what they need to teach in order for students to overcome the problems they’re struggling with. Your course should be just long enough to do that and your membership should contain exactly the right elements to assure the success of your students.

Don’t be tempted to throw in all kinds of bonuses, extra lessons, and guides just because it seems like more materials will add more value.

The ideal length for an online course really depends on how complex the content is and how long you expect participants to consume it and do any accompanying homework. 

Ask yourself how long you expect it to take to learn what you’re teaching. Let’s say it’s 6 weeks. Then, break down your content into 6 sections of equal length. Each section taking one week. Don’t give more than someone can do in 1 week’s time, or however long you’ll give them for each section. 

That might mean breaking some topics into Parts 1 and 2 if each part will take more than the allotted period to complete. Each topic (you could call these modules) should have three to five steps or small sections. The sections should consist of a short video and any accompanying download or worksheets needed. 

Be careful not to overwhelm with videos that are too long, too many downloads that aren’t relevant, or too much homework.

And, remember that each student consumes material differently, so offer lots of options for watching videos, downloading a transcript, or listening to audio.

Each course has its own needs structurally and in terms of content types though, so this is just a guideline.

If you find your course is too long and you feel the information is very valuable, you can remove one module and offer it as supplemental material – a bonus add-on, or an additional resource for participants.

And be sure to let them know on your sales page how much time they should expect to spend on the material and homework so they’ll know if they can realistically complete the course.

Putting All of Your Effort on the Course but Skimping on the Marketing

It takes a great deal of work to put together and run an online course, but you can’t forget to market it. It’s easy to get consumed with creating the course that you don’t spend enough time creating a marketing plan.

It’s arguable the marketing plan is more important than making the content just perfect the first time you offer the course. You can always edit the material as you go, as students won’t be able to consume all of it at once.

Before you even get started, make sure you have a solid marketing plan. What is the transformation you’ll take them on from point A to point B? How will you adequately convey that transformation to them? How will you get your course in front of your target audience? How will you advertise it and put the word out? Which marketing channels will you use and how will you use them?

If you have a topic that aligns with your target audience’s interests, a tightly focused course, and a marketing plan in place, you’re virtually guaranteed a successful course.

But, there are several places your marketing can fall apart. Think of it like a journey you need to take everyone on. Not everyone will come with you on the entire journey right to buying your course. They’ll fall off along the way.

Make sure that as you take them on the journey from learning about you and the material you offer, all the way to deciding they need the help you can offer, to deciding if your course is right for them, to purchasing, you are aware of where they can fall off along the way.

Make sure your marketing journey is consistent along the way and you don’t lose anyone in places that are easy fixes – like tech errors, missing or incomplete information, vague or unconvincing copy, and difficult pricing or packages.

If you avoid these deadly mistakes and create something your buyers need, can convey to them how it will give them a transformation, and can teach them in an effective way, you’ll easily make sales and having raving reviews!

I was given a gift yesterday. And today I’m writing about my journey. I’m writing it 100% for myself – to process my thoughts and reflect after I have some time to sit with that gift. But I’m publishing it. 

Yes, I hope you read it. I hope it will help you feel like you’re not alone. I hope you’ll help me feel like I’m not alone. We’re not. This is fact.

But even if no one reads it, it has helped me. I got a gift and I hope I can take that gift and continue to give it to myself every single day, and give it to others along the way.

You’re asking, what is this gift? I’m about to tell you and I hope I can explain in a way that resonates with you, but if not, that’s ok too. This is just my story – it doesn’t have to be anyone else’s.

Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been working with two coaches to improve and perform at a level most people don’t in my business and my life. It’s not an easy journey.

My coach, Deric mentioned he noticed I wasn’t pushing myself hard enough and he saw a pattern of peaks and valleys that I go through. He called me out on some pretty serious things I have always struggled with and it became a realization that now is the time I need to face them head-on.

His favorite prescription for these instances is to exert physical energy – to the point of sweat, tears, and exhaustion. (Or maybe it’s his favorite prescription for me because it’s what I need – a good coach can always lead you towards what you really need.) 

And so his gift for me was to suggest I go on a run someplace that was just outside my reach – someplace I felt was a scary distance.

I’ve been training for a 5k and I really don’t like running. After a lot of hesitation, a few months ago, I decided to make it my 90 day challenge for exactly that reason. I wanted to prove to myself I can do something that I don’t like doing and that I thought I couldn’t do.

I’ve fallen behind on my training recently and although I had lots of reasons why, they were all excuses because I was still scared I’d fail.

So, Deric pushed me to get back on track and choose a scary destination and just run. I chose the Target closest to me. As any true American woman knows, a trip through Target with no kids is truly a treat. That sounded like a great reward after some hard work. Too bad I couldn’t buy anything because I’d have to carry it home. Simply browsing still works for me, though!

We looked up the distance and for some reason, I read 3.1 miles from my house (I’d find out later that wasn’t exactly right.) That’s a 5k! I was so worried about how far it felt, I didn’t even do the math. I hadn’t run that distance yet even though the end of my challenge is coming soon.

I reluctantly agreed I’d go in the morning, and would take out the SIM card on my phone so I wouldn’t be tempted to call for a ride. I hadn’t really thought about getting home – just visualized the path I have driven hundreds of times over and over in my head telling myself how far it was. I was probably walking around like a deer in headlights for the 18 hours until it was time to go.

Morning came and I set out about 45 minutes later than I said was going to. I found lots of reasons to prolong leaving…the kids needed help with editing a video for their YouTube channel, I had to write a few emails, etc. Finally, I decided I had avoided leaving long enough and was ready to take that first step out the door.

I know this run isn’t something monumental that would go in record books or anything. It was monumental for me, but for lots of my friends and family, this distance is a piece of cake.

That run isn’t the point of my story. It’s about the mental journey along the way and how the gift Deric gave me became a gift I gave myself. I already knew it was a gift I should be giving myself more regularly but didn’t know why until I was done.

One of the biggest reasons I work with coaches is to have a mirror to reflect back at me the things I am blind to and the things I already know but want to ignore. 

It’s about having accountability to push myself when I really don’t want to and ironically, I learned that is actually a crutch for me – to make someone else hold me accountable instead of holding myself accountable. I’m a responsible person in the ways a majority of adults are, but it’s the things I feel defeated by – and the things I don’t want to do that make the internal accountability extremely difficult. That’s why it’s been my default to seek someone else to hold me accountable.

Like a crash test dummy being stopped dead in its tracks, I got the mirror I was looking for during a coaching call. I truly didn’t have a big enough WHY in my life (read Start With Why by Simon Sinek) and that I was riding everyone else’s motivation train instead of my own. That’s why I have had the ups and downs I have that prevented me from pushing past some of my biggest barriers.

So running to get some perspective is exactly what I did. Turns out, summer construction (or what we in Minnesota call one of two seasons – Winter, and Construction Season) took me at least a mile out of the way.

My run continued and although I’d rather not admit, I had moments of anger, regret, panic, struggling to breathe, some beautiful moments of peace and sense of accomplishment – but like I knew before I even started, I never once wanted to call someone for a ride.

As I got closer, Target finally appeared down the road. I had thought this would have been a more joyous moment, but I didn’t really feel much at that point. All I could think about was getting something to drink because I ran out of water about a half a mile back.

I paused for a photo opp, but I actually hesitated to go inside because I felt like I hadn’t worked hard enough – that I somehow cheated my way there.

I grabbed a drink at Starbucks, sat for a few minutes, then took a lap around the store – I’m always so inspired by Target’s design – clothes, accessories, bedding, kitchen, stationery, even packaging is total eye candy for me.

I headed out to start home. I didn’t even think about the distance ahead, I just kept going and let my brain do whatever it wanted.

I felt fierce when I approached the construction again. Instead of listening to the rule-following Kelly who was telling me I had to go around, I went right through it and hurdled the concrete barriers. At this point, I wasn’t even thinking about obstacles, I was just going home, by whatever means.

When I got to my block and saw my house get bigger and bigger the closer I got, I walked through the door dripping with sweat and tears, and looked in disbelief at my phone. 8.8 miles! Surely I didn’t go that far. 

But I really did! And even though I found myself explaining to my coaching group while ugly crying that it wasn’t good enough because I walked a lot of it, and it took much longer than it needed to, I not only completed my goal of a 5k BEFORE my deadline, I more than doubled it! I covered 8.8 miles of ground exerting more physical effort than I ever have in that distance all without someone talking me through it.

So what were my lessons? The list is long. That’s why I decided to set aside a lot of time today to write this. I want to document my journey so I will never forget the lessons. They are the gifts I gave myself and by putting them out into the world, I’m setting my intentions and something to come back to when I need a dose of self-motivation.

MY LESSONS FROM 8.8 MILES

• I need to continually ask myself what is my why and challenge my answer. Is that my true why? Does it fuel me? Does it motivate me?
• My why doesn’t have to have some special magical grandeur. It just needs to be meaningful to me and it should encourage me to be the best version of myself. 
• It shouldn’t ride on anyone else’s why. I can be inspired by others, but it’s got to be my own or I won’t be motivated by it.
• I can have multiple whys. Some can be purely selfish, some can be based on a calling to be something bigger than myself. It doesn’t matter as long as they’re truly mine and they give me purpose.
• It’s ok to have periods when you don’t know what your why is. Just be sure to go on a quest to find it during that time. Don’t let time pass by when you’re going through the motions not living your purpose.
• I have to find a way to connect with my why every single day. It’s not enough to have it written in a journal or hung on the wall. I have to feel it deep inside because otherwise I will wander away from it, lose motivation and have a really hard time getting back to it.
• My whys can change over time. They can flow with seasons of life, and grow and contract as long as they give me purpose and motivation. I have always felt like I needed the one perfect why and that’s probably the reason I haven’t held on to any tightly and haven’t been motivated enough by them.
• Motivation has to come from within. I can look for ways to be externally motivated, but ultimately, that motivation won’t be around forever. I am the only person who can make change and I can’t wait for someone to tell me to do it.
• Everyone has brokenness inside and don’t – even for a second – believe that’s not true. I’m not alone and although we’re on separate journeys, sometimes our paths cross and we share the burden.
• Challenging yourself is a gift. It’s important to give yourself that gift often.
• Who cares if others think you can’t do something? That won’t stop you from doing it. You will stop yourself, however. Don’t give them that power and thank them for motivating you, even if that motivation comes from anger towards them.
• I’m unbelievably privileged. This sank in for me as I got closer to my neighborhood and saw it through a cornfield. I’m married to a literal rocket scientist who carries more of my weight than he should. We’re saving to build our dream home (as if the home we have isn’t good enough) and I can not let those privileges make me complacent in finding my own purpose and motivation and being grateful for everything I have every day.
  
  
  
• I am an ordinary person. But God does amazing things with ordinary people. I can’t ever let myself think I’m more than ordinary, but instead, need to be continually grateful for the amazing things He does with me. 
• Stop looking for validation elsewhere – especially social media. I posted a while back about a child that was abducted a mile away from me. I was surprised when not many people reacted to that post. I ran past that neighborhood yesterday and reminded myself that one of the reasons I’m running is so I would have the physical strength to chase after someone who was trying to abduct my children.
  
  
  Yet, I made it about a post on social media and told myself that lesson wasn’t important because no one reacted. Yes, I’m posting my running story on social media, and it’s great if people read it, but I’m going to turn off comments when I post so I’m not looking for validation from it. I’m just going to accept the gift from myself and be grateful for the lessons.
  
  Same with being hard on myself. I feel like things aren’t good enough unless someone else tells me they’re great – not wanting to take credit for 8.8 miles that weren’t run 100%. That’s a way to never really be satisfied and to live in a deep hole of being unfulfilled. 

OUT OF THESE LESSONS CAME MY WHYS:

• My faith. I believe God created every single human soul for a purpose. My purpose is to glorify Him in the things I do and say, and be a shining light in His name for everyone I encounter.
• My family. Marriage is God’s intention for us and my husband was chosen for me to raise our children together in love. My children are my legacy. If I don’t lead myself first, I can’t lead them. I need to seek continual improvement and overcome my challenges so that they can overcome their own. Children respond to actions, not words.
  
  
  
• My loved ones who have died. My dad and my two unborn children, James (stillborn) and Gabrielle (miscarriage). My dad died at age 42 – which is coming up in four years for me. God willing, I will live longer than he did. I need to make it count for him. He wouldn’t want me to wallow in his death, he would want me to shine for all the things he didn’t get to do. I can hear my son James as an adult telling me, “Mom, I didn’t get to live so you need to live for me.” I can’t let their untimely deaths hold me back, even though the pain is real and constant. They mean too much to me to let evil win.
• Causes and vocations I believe in. Leukemia, stillbirth, miscarriage, marriage, parenting. I need to be a voice – no matter how big or small.
• Depression – especially among entrepreneurs. I’ve struggled with this for 25 years. It can be one of the most isolating things a person can ever experience. But, it CAN NOT win. It’s not a reason to stop being motivated – in fact, I have to motivate myself despite it. That’s so so hard. It’s a war I have to face each and every day. That’s why we need to talk about it and let people know they truly are not alone.  

My gift gave me a chance to pause and face some tough questions I haven’t wanted to face. I’m not done discovering the answers and they’ll continually challenge me.

My journey over the last 7 months has been physical and mental training so that when I do face the lowest lows, and deepest valleys, I’ll have the tools and strength to overcome them. I’m just at the beginning of this training, and it will continue for the rest of my life.

I’m not running so today I can say I ran 8.8 miles. I’m running so when I’m feeling unmotivated and depressed, I can find it within myself to clutch on to the walls of the pit I’m in and pull myself out one inch at a time. 

Sometimes I’ll fall back in, but at least if I set myself up to have what it takes to get out all on my own, I’ll eventually succeed and not only make it out of the pit but will build a castle on top of it!

That’s not going to happen overnight, but I’ll know I’ve succeeded when the rolllercoaster ups and downs are further apart and cover less distance. Until then, I keep moving.

TIMESTAMPS
[01:00] Jamie’s Bio
[01:37] Kelly’s Bio
[03:10] The “glamour” myth of online marketing
[04:50] How this myth affects business owner
[10:20] The magic is in the middle of the funnel
[16:46] The future with Messenger Chat Bots
[25:16] Figuring out what tech to use/seeing the big picture
[37:00] Opportunity outside the internet/the burst of the online marketing bubble

Where to find Jamie:
Website ➜ http://zenplicitynow.com
Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/Zenplicity
Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/jamiedubose

Kelly was interviewed on the latest episode of From Stuck to Unstoppable with Jenn from LearnSavvy.

It can be overwhelming for many business owners to deal not only with creating a marketing strategy, but also determining what technology to use, how to design a look, and tie everything together.

Kelly and the team at Ekcetera excel in doing just that. Listen as she and Jenn talk about how to stop being overwhelmed and make everything line up.

Video Transcript

The biggest key to success with your marketing is consistency. Whatever it is that you choose to do, choose one thing and stick with it.

Hi. I’m Kelly at Ekcetera Design and Marketing, helping you make your business stylish and smart. A common thing that I hear from business owners when it comes to their online marketing – whether it’s social media, their website, or their email marketing – is that they just don’t know where to start.

[00:00:30] No matter what type of marketing you’re doing, I always say that the first thing you have to do is set a goal. You need to know what you’re trying to accomplish with your marketing.

Let’s take the example of a new product you’re trying to launch. That product could be a widget, for example. You’re trying to sell a widget and you know that to sell your widget, you have to build awareness of it. You have to have a certain number of people find out about the product, and then go through a certain conversion [00:01:00] process to end up finally buying the product. Once you have a clear picture of the steps people are going to go through to accomplish your goal – which is to purchase the product – then you just need to break down that goal into all the various tasks you need to do to get you there.

Once you start doing that, it will become more and more clear where the weak areas are that you need to fill in, and where you can go to start. When you’re first thinking about it, there are so [00:01:30] many things out there that you can do. You might be thinking, “I don’t even know where to start. What’s the first thing I do? I see different things I could try, but I don’t know which one to do.”

By breaking the goal down into tasks, you’re going to know what steps you have to take and in what order. That will give you some ideas on where you can research and find out the pieces of information you don’t have – or the things you’re missing that you might need to hire someone to do, or the things that you can do inside your [00:02:00] business by yourself.

Once you’ve identified all the tasks you have to do to reach your goal, you’re going to start coming upon your own self doubt and your own mindset problems. That happens to everybody. The best thing you can do is stop second-guessing yourself. Just dive in and start doing something. As soon as you have just a little piece of your brain that says, “Wait a second. Maybe this…, maybe that…, or think about this before you do that,” try as best you can to push that aside [00:02:30] or ask someone to talk you down, or try and find a way to ignore those things that come to mind because everybody has those problems.

As soon as we start second-guessing ourselves, that’s when we lose sight of our goal and what we’re working towards, and we lose sight of that clear path that’s going to get us there, especially when it comes to marketing.

There’s so much noise and there’s so many people telling you how to do different things. Sometimes it’s best to just not pay attention [00:03:00] to all the noise and get somebody who can work directly with you and help walk you through step by step and check all of your assumptions. Try and block out as much extra noise as possible and only reach out for help when there’s something you feel stuck on. All along the way, be sure to think critically. Leave negative thoughts behind and take away all those things that prevent you from taking action steps in your marketing plan.

The biggest key to success with your [00:03:30] marketing is consistency. Whatever it is that you choose to do, choose one thing and stick with it and be sure to do it regularly. Whether that is posting on social media or sending an email out to your people, or sending videos – whatever it is – you need to get in front of people multiple times before they’re going to start to recognize you and want to buy from you. As you’re working towards your goals with marketing, be sure to measure your results along the way and don’t measure [00:04:00] only the result – as in the number of sales that you get – because you may not get a sale for a while, so you have to be able to pick apart what it is that you’re doing and find the weak points in your path to your goal.

If you aren’t getting sales and you’re wondering, “What’s happening?” be sure that you’re measuring other things. Measure the number of people that are signing up for your free offer, measure the number of people that are opening, measure the number of people that are getting your Facebook posts or your social media, measure [00:04:30] different things along the path of a customer’s journey to purchase your product because that’s going to tell you where your weak points are. That’s going to tell you something you can do better to make the process for them smooth, so you do have people following along your path and purchasing from you eventually.

Naturally, not everybody that starts at the very beginning of the sales journey with you is going to buy. It’s best to see at what points people are dropping [00:05:00] off of that journey and see if there are things at those points you can do to strengthen your marketing message and connect with them better, so that they actually end up buying from you.

Those are things you can do to help determine where to start. When you’re feeling overwhelmed with marketing your business and you just don’t know where to go, don’t forget to look at the goal – look at what it is that you’re trying to accomplish and work backwards from there. What steps do you need to do to accomplish your goal? [00:05:30] Then don’t forget to measure along the way. Set points as people are going through that process of eventually purchasing from you. Where do you have holes and where do you have gaps that you can make stronger and help move people along that path continually towards buying from you?

I hope that helps. I would love to know your ideas and your thoughts. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments below. I’d love to have a discussion about it. If there’s anyone else you know that might [00:06:00] benefit from a little help on feeling overwhelmed with their marketing, please share the video with them. I hope to see you again in a future video. Thanks for watching.

There aren’t a whole lot of options for webinars

If you’ve ever looked into the tools available to host a webinar, they range from free (and unreliable) to majorly expensive and loaded with so many features you’ll never use them.

What that means is a clunky system that screams you didn’t pay for it, or forking over so much money your profit needs to soar just to cover the cost of the monthly fee. (And that’s another issue, what if you’re just getting started and don’t want to commit to a monthly fee if you think you might only be hosting a webinar every once in a while?)

What’s a person to do that wants a quick and easy way to host webinars without the price tag of the Enterprise level options?

Enter WebinarAlly

This WordPress plugin is the latest software release from Nathalie Lussier and her team at AmbitionAlly. The plugin was designed to be a simple, inexpensive tool to get people online and hosting webinars quickly and easily.

Here’s why I love it:

• Easy to Use. Just a few clicks to install the plugin, set up a webinar, and you’re broadcasting in no time!
• No messy experience for your audience. I get tired of having to download apps just to view a webinar (especially when I get there just as the webinar starts…remembering there’s also a plugin to install is so frustrating!). WebinarAlly is just a clean, simple experience for your audience. All you do is send them an email with a link to the page where you’re hosting the webinar. All they do is click on the link and they’re taken right to your website with the webinar embedded right into the page.
• Familiar Google Hangout On Air Technology. WebinarAlly uses Google Hangouts on Air, which I use regularly, so my audience and I are already familiar with interacting with it.
• Blends right in with my website. Since I’m hosting the Webinar on a page on my site, I can set the mood however I want. I prefer to keep things simple and include only my website header, the video, and the chat box, but there’s no saying you couldn’t fancy it up all you want!
• Use with any Email provider. Other webinar tools I’ve used either have their own clunky opt-ins that don’t work well with other email programs. Sometimes they send out their own email notifications, sometimes not. It can cause a big headache when you’re trying to do too many things with your email. Because WebinarAlly works separately from your email, all you have to do is use your email system as usual to send out confirmations, reminders, and follow ups. No need to make two systems play well together. [Bonus, need an easy opt-in form? PopupAlly can handle that like magic!]
• No Viewer Restrictions. Other solutions have limitations on the number of attendees or emails you can send out, etc. WebinarAlly has none of that – as far as webinars go, the more the merrier!
• The Price. $27 for a plugin is amazing! Who can’t afford that? Other webinar choices charge high monthly fees.

Being objective:

There really isn’t much I can complain about with WebinarAlly, but since this is a review, I figure I should give an objective report on things that other solutions have:

• Stats and Reporting. Because it’s a simple solution, WebinarAlly doesn’t get into tracking and reporting. That’s no big deal though. Everything’s on your website, so you can easily set up some goals to track in Google Analytics, along with checking your email stats, and you should have all the info you need.
• Featured Offer. Some products have a featured offer that you can display at the appropriate time on your webinar. Again, this isn’t a major issue because you could easily link to a landing page in the chat box. Besides Nathalie and Robin are constantly releasing new features in all of their software products, so something tells me we’ll see some neat features coming along.
• Chat Box. While it doesn’t come with a built-in chat box, you can easily add one on your webinar page. Nathalie recommends using ChatWing, but it’s not my favorite (kind of clunky). However, because Nathalie and Robin are always on top of things, they’ve found a new chat tool called Tik.io, that is much more sleek and seems to work well.

The features that aren’t included are done so by design. WebinarAlly isn’t meant to be a full-featured tool, and the price tag reflects that. It is a really great for those who need an inexpensive option to get started in Webinar Land. The cost alone is a reason for those who do occasional webinars to switch from being committed to expensive monthly options.

But maybe you’re still timid about the idea of doing webinars in the first place.

Why Webinars?

Hosting a webinar can be one of the easiest, most fun, and most effective ways to grow your audience, introduce a new product, or just share your mad skills online.

Here’s why:

• People connect with other people. When you have a business online, it’s hard to make your brand personal. People like associating a company with a person they know and trust. A webinar is a great way to get personally in front of lots of people without the hassle of one-on-one time. Give them something they can relate to on a personal level, present it from your heart, and they’ll connect with your business because they’ve connected with you.
• You can use and reuse. Once you’ve created a webinar, you can use the content over and over again. You can use the recording to include as bonuses, share the slides, and host similar webinars to new audiences. You won’t have to start from scratch.
• Webinars convert. No lie. Webinars have higher conversion rates than many other methods. Because your audience can see and hear you, you’re able to establish better trust and rapport. You can also answer your audience’s questions and objections immediately, and offer a time-sensitive offer to encourage them to purchase right away.
• People love learning. When there’s so much to learn online, people pay attention to something new and unique they haven’t seen before. When you offer a webinar at a particular date and time, there’s a feeling of exclusivity that helps people sign up, even if they can’t attend live. Make sure what you’re offering is unique and packed full of helpful things your audience needs to accomplish their goals.

By creating a webinar that knocks your audience’s socks off with the amazing helpful information they receive, you’re sure to have a success. WebinarAlly can help you by taking the tech struggles of hosting a webinar away so you can focus on delivering what your audience truly needs.

If you’re looking for help implementing WebinarAlly on your website, or need help figuring out the best way to get people to attend your webinar, contact us to see how we can help.

(Side note: I may make a small commission if you choose to purchase any of the products recommended in this article. This doesn’t mean I’m only recommending it for the money. I don’t take recommendations lightly and will only tell you about something I have tried and truly believe in using.)

I wish I had a penny for every time a busy entrepreneur like yourself comes to me because they have bits and pieces of a whole scattered around online. I even feel that way about my own stuff most of the time!

I want to share a secret: The solution to cleaning your business up online isn’t always as difficult as it may seem.

In fact, my team and I are skilled at exactly that – helping brands polish up what they portray online.

I’ve been hinting at a big announcement lately, and now I’m ready to share.

For the last several months, I’ve been working hard at a new partnership with the amazing Nathalie Lussier and her Ambition Ally team.

I’ve studied her training and software over the last several years and think she’s shaking things up online in a really big way.

That’s why, when she invited people like me to come on board as Certified Partners of her software and programs, I just couldn’t say no.

We’re thrilled to announce we’re part of a small crew of partners certified to offer specialized support integrating Ambition Ally software into your marketing.

I couldn’t be more thrilled to add to our arsenal of tools to help make your business shine.

If you’re looking for a way to stand out from all the noise online, first, check out Nathalie and her software, and then, hit reply and let me know how we can assist you in having it all with your marketing.

Check it out.

Would you like your question answered in an upcoming episode? Get more information on how to submit your question here.