Imagine you’re embarking on a long-distance hike in an unfamiliar wilderness. Your goal is to reach a beautiful mountaintop that offers breathtaking views.
Along the way, you come across a signpost with clear markers indicating the path and distance to your destination. You follow these markers, one by one, step by step, knowing that each one brings you closer to your ultimate goal.
In this analogy, the signposts represent the clear action steps provided in a course. Just like the hiker, learners need these markers to guide their progress and ensure they stay on track toward transformation.
Join me with guest, Sarah Shoop, to explore the 3 essential ingredients your online course needs to power-up and ensure your students take action and get the ultimate transformation.
Don’t Miss Inside This Episode:
- Discover the secret ingredients for transforming your courses into action-driven experiences that leave a lasting impact on your learners. Dive into the 3 essential elements expert trainer Sarah Shoop swears by.
- Ever wondered why some courses fizzle out while others inspire meaningful change? Sarah Shoop shares her game-changing techniques to keep your audience engaged, motivated, and eager for more.
- Learn why less is more with online learning. And how you can actually add more into your course without overwhelming your students.
- Discover how to tap into different learning styles for all learners to achieve the highest possible rate In helping your students achieve the transformation you promise.
Links and products mentioned in today’s episode:
Download the Checklist for Course Engagement to gain access to the tool that will empower you to take your courses to the next level. Get ready to supercharge your skills, captivate your learners, and embark on a thrilling journey of growth and success.
About Sarah Shoop (Bio)
Meet Sarah Shoop, an education enthusiast who is passionate about creating captivating lessons. With an impressive 20-plus years of teaching and corporate training experience under her belt, she’s perfected the art of simplifying complex ideas while supporting coaches in creating online courses that bring transformations to their clients.
As a seasoned course designer, Sarah is all about crafting informative and entertaining content that truly comes to life. She loves incorporating interactive and engaging elements into her courses, ensuring that the material stays etched in the minds of your clients. Sarah has an in-depth knowledge of learning theories and effective instruction principles, allowing her to create courses that guide students toward achieving their goals.
Sarah’s Website
Connect With Sarah on Social
Sarah is not on social media. The best place to connect with her is through her website. She personally answers all emails through her contact page.
About Your Host
Melissa Brown, MD – Coach, Author, Speaker, Teacher, and Podcast Host.
After leaving medical practice in 2009, Melissa discovered the online world and never looked back! After coach certification, she began a healthy lifestyle coaching practice online and quickly fell in love with blogging, writing, and content marketing.
Melissa believes that coaches have the power to change the world. Unfortunately, too many coaches get discouraged by the amount of content they need to create for marketing their business and this can lead to overwhelm and giving up on their dreams. There’s such a ripple effect when a dream dies, so Melissa is on a mission to help coaches and solopreneurs overcome the overwhelm when it comes to content creation so they keep those dreams alive.
Your content can impact massive amounts of people and positively change the world. You’ve got content in there inside you; let’s get it out into the world.
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She’s Got Content Facebook group:
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Thanks for listening!
Thanks so much for listening to this podcast. It means the world to me to have you here on this journey! If you got value from this episode, please share it on social media, and recommend it to your business besties.
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Transcript
We wanna give them everything because we're giving people, and we wanna just
Speaker:here's everything I know. But on the receiving end of that, it's
Speaker:too much your course or offering doesn't have to be
Speaker:the end all be all. You can have another level. You
Speaker:can keep building on it. So
Speaker:don't give them everything in the beginning. Just let them take
Speaker:baby steps as they go through. Just
Speaker:pair it down to the essential things that they need to
Speaker:know to make that change.
Speaker:Hello there content creators. You're listening to the She's got
Speaker:content podcast. It's all about creating content for
Speaker:your coaching business. I'm your host, Doctor
Speaker:Melissa Brown, and I'm here every week to help you get your content
Speaker:out of your head, out of your heart, and out there into the
Speaker:world, where that information and your services can
Speaker:impact the most people. Get ready to take notes
Speaker:today and then take action content creators. Let's dive
Speaker:in with today's episode because you've got content to get
Speaker:out there. Hey, and welcome back to this week's episode. I'm your
Speaker:host, Melissa Brown. My guest today has an impressive
Speaker:resume with more than 20 years of teaching and corporate
Speaker:training experience. She's now helping coaches and online course
Speaker:creators with her ninja skills by helping them simplify
Speaker:complex ideas and concepts so their online courses
Speaker:bring needed transformations to their clients. I
Speaker:recently attended a class that Sarah Shoop taught about how to
Speaker:get better engagement with your online students.
Speaker:Sarah really knows her stuff and she's going to share with us today about how
Speaker:to power up your online course. Welcome, Sarah.
Speaker:Hi! So excited to be here.
Speaker:Oh, awesome. Awesome. Well, I just really
Speaker:got so much out of that course that you taught recently. And -- Oh,
Speaker:it's so good. Yeah. It's just great information, and
Speaker:I am excited about what you're gonna be sharing with us today. But
Speaker:before we get started, I wanna know how
Speaker:did you get started? How did you get all of this
Speaker:started in your teaching training career? I would go back
Speaker:to let's say 1st grade. I knew instantly,
Speaker:I wanted to be a teacher. There are a lot of teachers in my family.
Speaker:I swear it's in my DNA. all through
Speaker:school, I was going to be a teacher. I never gave it a second
Speaker:thought. My sister, on the other hand, wanted to be the
Speaker:1st nun in space, like she wanted everything in all
Speaker:weird combinations, I was always going to be a teacher. I went
Speaker:to college, got a degree,
Speaker:and for some reason didn't get into a classroom
Speaker:ended up working at a company that does training with students
Speaker:of all different levels. did that for quite a
Speaker:few years and then wanted to have something different in my
Speaker:life. So I wanted to travel. started doing corporate
Speaker:training, and I've been with the same company
Speaker:for 16 years now, And
Speaker:I've done everything under the sun with training, whether it's live
Speaker:training, I create courses now, I've done everything. I've come at
Speaker:it from every angle. And I've always wanted to
Speaker:have my own business and do coaching I'm the person that everybody
Speaker:comes to with all of their problems. I knew it was something that would
Speaker:be my next step, and I know a lot
Speaker:about training, and I understand, especially adults,
Speaker:how they do things differently. And you can be in
Speaker:a classroom of twenty people and there's going to be
Speaker:20 different ways that they hear you and that they need to be able to
Speaker:process and there are so many
Speaker:amazing coaches out there that have these brilliant
Speaker:ideas, processes, things that can change
Speaker:people's lives, and they just
Speaker:maybe don't have the right way to present it so that
Speaker:transformation happens. So that has become
Speaker:my soapbox that I get on, and I want them to get that message out.
Speaker:So I wanna help them be able to do that. And so that's how I've
Speaker:ended up here doing this. What you
Speaker:provide is so needed. You're right. There are
Speaker:many, many online course creators, be they
Speaker:coaches, be they some type of creative. They've
Speaker:got the knowledge in there, but they -- Yes. Maybe difficult to
Speaker:tap into it to actually get that transformation from the people
Speaker:that they want to get the transformations from. It's so
Speaker:needed. We all have our skills. Their skill is in that knowledge
Speaker:and not necessarily knowing how to get that out. So I
Speaker:wanna be able to help them do that because I have well, I've taken
Speaker:many courses through the years, and some of them have been
Speaker:really powerful and really amazing, and some I can see
Speaker:have the potential, the knowledge is there,
Speaker:It's just not coming through. I think there are a lot of people that have
Speaker:these one on one sessions, and what they do is so
Speaker:great And just that translation into a course that anybody
Speaker:could pick up and run with, it's just not there, and it's hard
Speaker:to do that. Yeah. That's a really, really good point
Speaker:because oftentimes coaches may see,
Speaker:oh, there's only so many hours in the day that I can do this
Speaker:one on one coaching. So they're thinking about the
Speaker:courses, but that the brilliance is really in that one on one,
Speaker:and -- Mhmm. -- the transformation comes with that one on 1. There are
Speaker:ways to do it. Oh, sure. Tap into that.
Speaker:And that's sounds like it's one of your ninja skills.
Speaker:Yes. And I see that a lot in our
Speaker:communities where people are they know they
Speaker:wanna level up. They know they're ready to take that big step, and everybody's
Speaker:pushing them towards that. So you can kind of make money in your
Speaker:sleep. How many times do we hear that phrase? Oh, yeah. But that transition
Speaker:is challenging, and the focus is on your email
Speaker:funnels and your marketing and social and
Speaker:the sales page that has everything everyone wants. And
Speaker:then people actually get into the course and the effort
Speaker:isn't made there to have that transformation actually
Speaker:happen. So people are left kind of like, oh,
Speaker:I don't know if I got out of it what I want. Mhmm.
Speaker:And instead, what we want to do is make them just those
Speaker:raving fans where they are telling everybody. Oh,
Speaker:you have to take this course. You have to do this. You have to follow
Speaker:this person and let them
Speaker:be your voice out there in the world and bring people to you
Speaker:and wanna refer and do testimonials and
Speaker:what else do you have? I just want it all. That's what I think everybody
Speaker:wants to get to. And having a great sales page is fine.
Speaker:Having a great email funnels, great. But if your
Speaker:content isn't landing, then you're gonna
Speaker:not get that big -- True. -- impact at the end.
Speaker:Let's unpack. There's a few things here. Yes. We've got the
Speaker:oh my gosh. I'm overwhelmed with the fire hose.
Speaker:Mhmm. Which some people think they've gotta put more in to
Speaker:create a better experience for their client, their student.
Speaker:And then you've got others who it's hard to get
Speaker:the student to engage with the material.
Speaker:Maybe it's over their head . . well, there may be a whole bunch of
Speaker:different reasons for that. Well, today, we're gonna talk about
Speaker:powering up your course with three essential ingredients for action and
Speaker:transformation because you want your student to take action.
Speaker:You want them to get the transformation. You want them to get results.
Speaker:and a fire hose is not the way to do it. Exactly.
Speaker:Don't keep throwing more stuff into that course. There's a way to do
Speaker:this. actually less is more. So
Speaker:I'm just gonna let you start teaching because that's
Speaker:what you do best. So tell us about these 3 essential
Speaker:ingredients. Well, you're right when you say
Speaker:they have to take action in order to really
Speaker:get what they need out of it. But that action is different
Speaker:depending on what your course is or what your program is or what
Speaker:your offer, whatever it is you're putting out there, if
Speaker:you're just doing information sharing, so
Speaker:you have this bit of knowledge, you feel like, oh, there's no action they need
Speaker:to take. There actually is because you want them to go
Speaker:to the next level. Right? So you want them to take the
Speaker:next steps to learn more and to figure out more. So give
Speaker:them a way to learn more
Speaker:when they get excited, like, oh, this is really interesting. You
Speaker:wanna keep pulling them in. Come on. Let's keep going. Let's get deeper. Let's get
Speaker:deeper. And when you're doing something like a specific
Speaker:skill, for instance, I did a training with
Speaker:Google forms and using that for surveys, So I
Speaker:had a step by step guide. Here's how you're going to do it
Speaker:because I can share that information. But unless you actually turn
Speaker:around and do it, you're not really learning. It's just
Speaker:knowledge in and knowledge out. And unless you actually
Speaker:take that action. Do it yourself. It's
Speaker:not really going to stick and you're not gonna use it. Can I
Speaker:just interrupt you for one minute? You just reminded me of something. My
Speaker:background is in medicine. And in medical school and
Speaker:residency, We had this thing where we
Speaker:said, see 1, do 1, teach 1 -
Speaker:Oh, I like that. for
Speaker:procedures. So you would see somebody draw blood
Speaker:on a human being. You would have to do it
Speaker:next and then you got to turn around and teach someone how to do
Speaker:it. So you could read all the books about how to
Speaker:draw blood. You could watch somebody do it. But
Speaker:until you actually did it, then
Speaker:that's where the learning comes in. You're right. And then it's
Speaker:further solidified. It's further
Speaker:helped by teaching someone else how to do it. Absolutely.
Speaker:Because you have to be able to process it differently in your brain --
Speaker:Mhmm. -- to be able to -- explain it and get it back out.
Speaker:So if I'm doing an activity, that's one
Speaker:part of your brain that's actually functioning with that. to be
Speaker:able to explain it. Well, now you gotta get a whole another part of your
Speaker:brain, and then it really does solidify. And I love that. And that's why
Speaker:I'm not a doctor because I wouldn't wanna do the blood. But
Speaker:other than that, I love that concept. Yeah. Absolutely. And I think
Speaker:that goes with if you're doing a mindset change or you're trying to
Speaker:get people to transform their lives,
Speaker:it feels like, well, then they just have to journal or just think about
Speaker:it. No they actually have to do something. So they
Speaker:have to be able to if it is journaling,
Speaker:have something where they can maybe be held accountable for that. Now
Speaker:I'm not saying have them send you all their journals, but
Speaker:have some way that they can have checkpoints of,
Speaker:I'm actually doing this, hold them accountable in
Speaker:some way so that you know that they're actually taking those
Speaker:actions instead of just putting it out there and hoping
Speaker:that what you said actually gets into their head and they actually
Speaker:do something with it.
Speaker:Yes. Mindset shifts especially. Yeah. If you could be reading about it, you might be
Speaker:meditating on it, but this piece of accountability is
Speaker:really, I think, important. Having checklist and and checking off things is also really
Speaker:key.
Speaker:Yeah. And you like to use the healthy eating example. I
Speaker:know exactly what I should be eating. Mhmm. And I know
Speaker:exactly how to be healthy. I know that. Do I actually do
Speaker:it? No. So I don't have that
Speaker:accountability to myself or to if I was in a program
Speaker:I would want the guidance and the help and the
Speaker:support, especially with mind shifting and habits and
Speaker:things like that. They need support. and and ways to
Speaker:do that. So you have to think about if you're building a course that's not
Speaker:one on 1, how do you do that
Speaker:if you have lots of people, if it's an evergreen
Speaker:course where people are just coming in and out all the time,
Speaker:how do you build that into your course so
Speaker:that it supports people the same way you
Speaker:would support them one on 1? And a lot of
Speaker:it, you can automate and do different things. I
Speaker:was doing the training with the surveys and having just
Speaker:a way for them to be able to reach out and have a
Speaker:connection that doesn't put the pressure on you as
Speaker:the course creator because we do want your businesses to
Speaker:grow. We do want you to be reaching more people
Speaker:and still giving the same impact and that
Speaker:growing and scaling is challenging.
Speaker:If you're the coach who's looking. to scale your business by having
Speaker:an evergreen course, you don't wanna be working all
Speaker:the time, almost doing one on one coaching via email,
Speaker:with people, but you wanna wait for people to be able
Speaker:to reach out to you, to ask you questions, to help
Speaker:get unstuck, for instance, the surveys
Speaker:or forms is probably a good way
Speaker:to do that. Right. We were
Speaker:gonna talk about there are three ways that-- Well, there's more
Speaker:than 3 ways. Well, let's talk about 3 of them where
Speaker:you can help them take action. So it's not
Speaker:always saying do this, but there are ways that you
Speaker:can create your course to guide them to that. So
Speaker:the first thing I would say is to have clear action
Speaker:steps. They need to walk into that course
Speaker:knowing exactly what is expected exactly what's
Speaker:gonna happen when they are done. You mentioned this
Speaker:earlier that fire hose. We, as creators,
Speaker:have so many ideas. We have tried different things. We know a
Speaker:lot. We wanna give them everything. because we're giving people, and we
Speaker:wanna just here's everything I know. But
Speaker:on the receiving end of that, it's too much I can't
Speaker:process all of that. I can't make all of those changes.
Speaker:And if you think about as you're building
Speaker:your business, and you start getting into
Speaker:bundles and groups and now you're just bombarded. Your
Speaker:email is overflowing with different ideas and different things and you just,
Speaker:I can't handle it. That's what your clients are thinking.
Speaker:That's what your customers think. when they get into your course and then
Speaker:they go, oh, I can't. So I'm not. And they
Speaker:never open that course again. They never come back because it's too
Speaker:stressful. It's too overwhelming. So if you make it
Speaker:clear and then I would suggest
Speaker:go through- write a big list. Everything that you wanna say.
Speaker:And then just keep pulling out ideas
Speaker:that Well, you know what? That could be a quick little these
Speaker:$9 things are very popular now. These $9 offers. Pull it
Speaker:out. Make it a little offer. pull this little chunk
Speaker:out. Make it something - a freebie. Pull this out and
Speaker:give people a taste of what you're doing without blowing
Speaker:their minds with all of these great ideas and just pare it down
Speaker:to the essential things that they need to know to
Speaker:make that change. Your course, your offering doesn't
Speaker:have to be the end all be all. You can have another
Speaker:level. You can keep building on it. So
Speaker:don't give them everything in the beginning. Just let them take
Speaker:baby steps as they go through.
Speaker:Can I interrupt here for a sec? Sure. This is great stuff, by the
Speaker:way. This is great because clear action steps, knowing what your
Speaker:results are, pulling out those things that
Speaker:may be good, but aren't essential. I think these are this
Speaker:is great. And having different levels, so you can get people into,
Speaker:I call it the vortex, into the vortex of your world.
Speaker:So course creators, should be thinking about
Speaker:solving one problem. Yes. One problem
Speaker:with their course. Is that correct? Should
Speaker:we start there? That's like the bottom line is this is
Speaker:the problem that I'm solving in this course.
Speaker:Yes. And if you look through if you have your
Speaker:list of things that you want to include, go through and say,
Speaker:does this directly affect that one thing? Oh,
Speaker:that's a good question. Okay. Because I think some of
Speaker:us may think, well, yeah, that's kind of related.
Speaker:And so I wanna include it. Oh, that's really important. Oh, I love this part.
Speaker:I really want them to know this. Have that be a
Speaker:bonus. Have that be something else that they can do. Have
Speaker:it be a pre-step or a post-step or whatever,
Speaker:but keep focused on that one thing because
Speaker:the other part of this, these clear action steps is that you're
Speaker:gonna have to repeat yourself. People hear
Speaker:it once. Okay. They need to hear it
Speaker:twice. They need to hear it three times, and they need to hear it in
Speaker:different ways. So if you realize that you are going to
Speaker:be repeating, the size of your
Speaker:course now really expands. So if you're trying to do twenty
Speaker:steps, It's too much. Too much.
Speaker:Mhmm. Back it up. And thinking of that one thing that you wanna
Speaker:teach them, and if you have 20 things you
Speaker:wanna teach, then they have 20 different courses.
Speaker:Do something. Spread it out. Let them pick and
Speaker:choose what's relevant for them and what
Speaker:isn't because maybe they feel really confident in one area.
Speaker:then they don't need to do that. Let's focus in on the one thing
Speaker:they wanna solve right now. And that
Speaker:creates your course vortex. Your whole -- Exactly. --
Speaker:vortex with all of these different places where people can come in
Speaker:and stay in inside your world and learn from you. And you're
Speaker:right. They can self-select. They can decide, I wanna learn
Speaker:a and b. not so much c, d e,
Speaker:and f. Yes. So that helps them self-select as
Speaker:well because it's all kind of broken down. Mhmm.
Speaker:And I think if you put all of that in one course, what tends to
Speaker:happen is people are like, oh, yeah. I'm learning. And then they get to the
Speaker:point where they're like, yeah. I know this. And that's when they just
Speaker:drop off and they kind of give themselves an out like, okay. Well, I
Speaker:must know everything, and they don't go past that point.
Speaker:They just drop out. You don't want them to drop out. You want them
Speaker:to stay in and get through it, especially when
Speaker:we're talking about mind shift and transformational kind of courses,
Speaker:they need to go through the whole thing. So give them
Speaker:realistic goals in order to be able to do that. Nice. Okay. And
Speaker:then the second thing I would say as you're going
Speaker:through it, you need examples
Speaker:and stories so that they can relate to
Speaker:those ideas. We do well
Speaker:hearing it from someone else's perspective. And I think a lot
Speaker:of people are great. I know this for myself.
Speaker:I'm great at solving everybody else's problems and seeing what's
Speaker:wrong. Not so great when I look at myself. So
Speaker:if you can get them to see somebody else
Speaker:going through that same mind
Speaker:shift change or trying to create
Speaker:that habit, transform something in their
Speaker:life, if they can see it through somebody else's eyes,
Speaker:it's easier for them to realize, oh, yeah. I do that.
Speaker:Oh, yeah. That's me. and then they can connect to something
Speaker:rather than connecting to just words on a screen
Speaker:or you telling them this is what you should do.
Speaker:We're humans. We wanna connect with other people. Give
Speaker:them a person to connect to even if it's
Speaker:a made up person, and it's a story that yeah. Like,
Speaker:right. Yes. And then they can
Speaker:really connect to that story. They can
Speaker:learn from that. Now they get it. Now, okay.
Speaker:I see what we need to do. I'm not alone. I'm not the only one
Speaker:who's feeling this way, then they can really
Speaker:make some big changes. example, stories,
Speaker:case studies of some of the coaches' experiences,
Speaker:helping people through this transformation. Lot of
Speaker:times newer coaches who are creating courses or what have you
Speaker:may not have as many case studies to be able to pull from, but there
Speaker:are composites And you can also use yourself. You don't have to say
Speaker:this was me, but you could. Right? So -- Or family, friends,
Speaker:people, you got to where you're at because you experienced
Speaker:it with other people, even if they didn't pay you
Speaker:to to help them.
Speaker:Okay. And I think metaphors are also a good way to
Speaker:relate something that might be a little too up in the
Speaker:air, bring it down into reality with a metaphor or
Speaker:some other type of story so they can get it, like,
Speaker:Oh, I understand what you're saying. And that's why
Speaker:I say also you have to repeat things because that one story they
Speaker:may not connect to, but something else they may. And
Speaker:some people do really well with visuals. Some
Speaker:people do really well when they hear it, and some people, it
Speaker:depends on what day it is, what they connect to. So you
Speaker:have to give them different opportunities. Right. Yeah.
Speaker:I know that for me, there are some days where do not make me watch
Speaker:a video. I just wanna read it. I can't hear. I
Speaker:don't wanna hear anybody. and other times where I just I don't
Speaker:wanna read. Just tell me. Let me listen to something, and you have
Speaker:to be able to give them options with that. Yeah. The different
Speaker:learning styles doesn't have to be individuals
Speaker:who have different learning styles. It could be the same person on
Speaker:a different day who needs to hear something in a different
Speaker:way. And going back to these metaphors, This is
Speaker:something that I've just discovered that chat GPT and these AI
Speaker:sites, you can put your content in
Speaker:there and they can give you metaphors or
Speaker:analogies or parables, which will help reinforce
Speaker:that learning and This has just blown my mind because I don't
Speaker:think that quickly about, well,
Speaker:which one of Aesop's fables does this lessen here that I'm trying
Speaker:to teach resembled, but the chat GPT or
Speaker:any of those AI spinners can actually come up with it so
Speaker:fast. It just that blows my mind. And that's a good
Speaker:way to think about it as well. You know
Speaker:what you know. That's why you're teaching it. You have to have different ways
Speaker:to explain it, and maybe you don't know those stories. You haven't heard it
Speaker:that way. And to hear somebody, even if it's an
Speaker:AI, put a different spin on it opens you
Speaker:up to, oh, I didn't think of it that way. And
Speaker:then the person that can connect to it actually
Speaker:is able to hear that because you can add that in, and you can
Speaker:add that as another layer to what you're already teaching
Speaker:them. True. Yeah. Artificial intelligence is
Speaker:just opening up so many doors. Oh, I know. I can't
Speaker:believe it's only been. I mean, really what, like, 6 months or something
Speaker:that we've been in this little world, and it's
Speaker:amazing. Yeah. Well,
Speaker:we don't need to fear it. Right. Not
Speaker:yet. Okay. So we've got the clear action steps.
Speaker:We've got examples and stories or
Speaker:telling things in a different way. because you need to be repetitive.
Speaker:Mhmm. That was number 2? Yes. That's number 2. And
Speaker:then number 3 whatever opportunities
Speaker:you can create, and this is gonna differ depending on what your topic
Speaker:is, ways that they can reflect
Speaker:and do a self-assessment. Typically, we're not training
Speaker:anything where you need to give them a test and they get a score.
Speaker:That's not what we're doing here. But they
Speaker:do need to have an opportunity to reflect on
Speaker:where am I at in this process. What have
Speaker:I learned? What do I still need to work on?
Speaker:and if you can add something at the beginning
Speaker:of your course to give them to realize this is
Speaker:where I'm at right now. Not where I wanna
Speaker:be. That's why I bought the course. That's why I'm in this program, but
Speaker:have them have a point that they can go back to say
Speaker:oh, I really did learn something because with
Speaker:all of our memories, every time you remember something, it changes
Speaker:because we have all of this knowledge that has happened and that hindsight
Speaker:is 2020. If we don't have that point where we can
Speaker:look back to we think, oh, I you know what? I don't know if I
Speaker:got anything out of that when in fact we have.
Speaker:So have something in the beginning of your course to just give them a
Speaker:chance to reflect, do a little self-assessment. Here's where you're at.
Speaker:No judgment. Just right now, here's where you're at.
Speaker:Yeah. That's what I'm gonna ask. So self assessments are good,
Speaker:like, right from the beginning. Let's take this self assessment as we all get
Speaker:started And then at some point during the course
Speaker:or at the end, and certainly at the end of the course to -- Mhmm.
Speaker:-- compare where you were at the beginning and where you are now --
Speaker:Right. -- as the student. Could be journal
Speaker:questions that they fill out. They don't need to turn it in. They need to
Speaker:hold on to that. or even just a scale here at 1
Speaker:through 5. How are you feeling about this? Have
Speaker:several of those don't overwhelm them with a whole bunch of things. This
Speaker:isn't a personality test. Mhmm. It's just here where are you
Speaker:at? And have those absolutely link up to those
Speaker:action items that you are going to do in your course, have
Speaker:that directly tie into what you're
Speaker:about to teach them So create yourself
Speaker:assessment, your reflection points
Speaker:after you finished your course. So you know exactly where you
Speaker:want them to be at the end, have them
Speaker:have a reality check-in the beginning of here I am. This
Speaker:is Again, no judgment. This is just where I'm at right now.
Speaker:Then you're right. As you go through, you could have little checkpoints and
Speaker:especially if you have a really long program, you wanna have little checkpoints
Speaker:in there so they don't get disillusioned. Like, I'm not getting anywhere in
Speaker:this. Have them realize why I am making some progress.
Speaker:I am feeling better. I have started doing this habit
Speaker:that I really wanted to do. or have those moments of,
Speaker:you know what? I need to recommit because I'm not where I
Speaker:want it to be. Right. And then absolutely at the
Speaker:end, do that as well so they can really see growth
Speaker:has happened. About 3 years ago, I bought this
Speaker:course where it's run
Speaker:live twice a year. And after the
Speaker:first time when I only got through part of it,
Speaker:but that was -- As we all do. Well, but that was okay because the
Speaker:teacher was all about listen. Not everybody's gonna
Speaker:finish this one the first time around. You have access to
Speaker:this forever. its lifetime access. If you
Speaker:wanna go through this with me again live, there
Speaker:was an option there was another option to do a
Speaker:lifetime deal. And every time it's
Speaker:run, you can go through it with her. I bought that lifetime deal because I
Speaker:just love the material, and I knew it was something I was gonna continue to
Speaker:go back to again and again and again. And what I've
Speaker:loved is that she actually at the end of each module
Speaker:will have a little self assessment, that little survey that you go
Speaker:take it And she started to see that people were getting stuck
Speaker:at one point, and then she modified it
Speaker:and actually redid some of the material at that
Speaker:point, which has been so much better. That's a good point
Speaker:because the reflection isn't just for your people
Speaker:going through the course, it is also for you. So if you can have it
Speaker:in a way that, again, depending on the topic isn't
Speaker:too intrusive into their own personal lives, but a
Speaker:way for them to share with you. This is what I'm feeling. This
Speaker:is where I'm at. and then see that
Speaker:as you go through, you're right. That's where you're gonna find the stuck
Speaker:points. You can't always see depending on what your course
Speaker:platform is, you can't always see where they stop
Speaker:in a course or what they get through. So you need a little checkpoint
Speaker:that takes it out of that platform and gives it
Speaker:to you so you know, wow. I get all of these and
Speaker:then I get nothing. they're all stopping here.
Speaker:What what is happening here? Is the
Speaker:content too challenging? Do I need to change it up? Do
Speaker:I need to spread it out? What is it? And then
Speaker:ask them. They're in the course. They
Speaker:want to get help. Right? They pay for it.
Speaker:Let's give them some help. So have a place where they can kind of raise
Speaker:their hand and say, Yeah. I'm stuck. I don't know where
Speaker:to go. And a lot of us don't have big communities
Speaker:with sites that people are chatting back and forth or
Speaker:Facebook group, where do people go to ask
Speaker:questions? They're probably not gonna email you because I
Speaker:think a lot of people feel like, they're not gonna read my email or
Speaker:somebody else will get it or I'm not even gonna bother. That's a good
Speaker:point. A lot of times, we put these people who create the courses on a
Speaker:pedestal, then we think, well, they're off creating a new one someplace, and they don't
Speaker:wanna hear from me. But we, as the
Speaker:course creators, really want our students to succeed. We
Speaker:want them to get this transformation. That's
Speaker:probably a faulty thinking on the part of the student, but you're right.
Speaker:Giving the student plenty of opportunities in places and ways
Speaker:to interact with the course creator is the best way to do
Speaker:it. Make it easy for them to reach out and say, I'm stuck. I
Speaker:need help. What about this? I'm confused. Right.
Speaker:Right. And have it be easy for them
Speaker:and set boundaries. People will take advantage of
Speaker:an opportunity to reach out. You're not giving away free therapy
Speaker:or counseling or whatever. We're coaching. Right.
Speaker:Set your boundaries. but give them a chance to
Speaker:have a connection. because the other thing, especially when you're growing your
Speaker:business, those connections are critical
Speaker:because those are the people who are going to spread the word of
Speaker:how amazing you are and how amazing what you do is.
Speaker:You need them to feel connected. You're not buying
Speaker:something from Amazon, who's this big
Speaker:corporation that we don't even wanna deal with, you're a
Speaker:person. Show them that you're a person. And I think we do a good
Speaker:job of that in talking about our emails and making it
Speaker:personal and showing that you're just like them and you're struggling what
Speaker:you've gone through and in a course, then it
Speaker:becomes separate in some ways. Give them a
Speaker:chance to reach out, especially if you don't have that
Speaker:community that they could talk to other people.
Speaker:And that's okay to not have a community. especially
Speaker:when you're first starting, give them a chance though to communicate
Speaker:at least with you. Yeah. These connections, I think,
Speaker:are really important. the, I guess, traditional
Speaker:phrase, especially when you're trying to woo
Speaker:people into your community, whether they've bought something or not,
Speaker:the traditional phrase is the know like and trust factor.
Speaker:And we often think of that as we're in the
Speaker:selling phase, And then I like to think of the
Speaker:3 r's after that. You want people to remember you. You want them
Speaker:to rave about you, and you want them to refer and, be
Speaker:your biggest bell ringers for what you're selling because
Speaker:they got that transformation. So making those connections helps to
Speaker:increase that 3 r factor. sure. Absolutely.
Speaker:Yeah. And I think that gets lost a lot in
Speaker:especially in our circles. that we forget about. We're
Speaker:so excited to create,
Speaker:and we just put it out there, and then we're on to the next
Speaker:thing, and we just forget about what's already out there. And this is an
Speaker:opportunity to go back to what you've already created.
Speaker:take a fresh look at it, maybe go through, add
Speaker:some different action items that they can do, add some surveys
Speaker:in the middle, add in some stories. Break it up a
Speaker:little bit more. Please don't have courses where there's an
Speaker:hour-long video for them to watch. great
Speaker:point. Just break it up because we're all
Speaker:busy. We all are doing many things at the same
Speaker:time and know that the people watching your content
Speaker:are not like, I'm gonna sit down for 3 hours and go through
Speaker:this course. They don't no one has 3 hours to do
Speaker:anything. They have 15 minutes. I got 15 minutes before
Speaker:the laundry is done, and then I have to Get the kids up or I
Speaker:have to put them to bed or whatever. Oh, this is so true. And
Speaker:that doesn't just apply to the videos where somebody's sitting and watching.
Speaker:There's a lot of these private podcasts or -- Yeah. --
Speaker:teaching through an audio course. And
Speaker:one of them that I got access to had
Speaker:at the most, it was 10 minutes, and it was perfect. Little
Speaker:snippets. And it flowed. You didn't jump
Speaker:around, but once you could say, okay. I got 10 minutes,
Speaker:or I'm gonna go take a walk, and I'll listen to 2 or 3 of
Speaker:them. It was great. So, yes, these really small
Speaker:little snippets of a concept or
Speaker:something. I -- Right. And especially -- -- your audio.
Speaker:Yeah. Especially when you have to then process
Speaker:that. Uh-huh. So if I'm listening to an hour long
Speaker:thing, all of the stuff from the beginning, I have forgotten. I don't remember
Speaker:that. So I'm losing out on chances to actually
Speaker:grow and learn, but if you give me 10 little minutes or
Speaker:15 or whatever, but one little concept
Speaker:that I can then sit back and think about. And maybe you
Speaker:give me an actual question at the
Speaker:end. to write down or think about or just
Speaker:then when I'm washing dishes or, taking the dog for a
Speaker:walk or whatever, I'm thinking about that. I'm processing that
Speaker:and then give me an opportunity to repeat it back or relearn it
Speaker:in a different way. and memorize it. -- on that now. Yes.
Speaker:Yes. Yeah. So if we go back and just think through these
Speaker:three things, and, again, lots of other things you can do as well. But
Speaker:If you have clear action steps, keep in mind, you
Speaker:are very excited about all that you know, but you don't wanna
Speaker:overwhelm people. make it clear and simple.
Speaker:trim it out. trim it out. You can always add things to
Speaker:your resources don't overwhelm them,
Speaker:giving them a chance to leave. And I love what you said before about
Speaker:you can maybe take that and put it in as a bonus. Right.
Speaker:They can access that still, but it's not part
Speaker:of the course. Right. And you'll have people who want
Speaker:more now there is more for them to do. Mhmm. And you
Speaker:can even add bonuses, especially if you're doing a live course
Speaker:or program. Add it in at the end,
Speaker:because you're seeing things as you go through, just add things at the
Speaker:end. You don't need to tell them upfront. Say, I've got more for you. Here
Speaker:you go. and then they're, oh, I'm really excited and I can
Speaker:go back through. And along with that, add
Speaker:examples, add stories, add metaphors,
Speaker:bring those concepts to life, and make it
Speaker:relatable for them. Make them be able to connect
Speaker:to whatever it is that you're trying to teach. Help them feel
Speaker:that they're not alone. They know others have gone through this.
Speaker:They can really see through someone else's eyes, the
Speaker:change that they wanna make. Give them those opportunities
Speaker:and do that. Explain what it is. Give them the
Speaker:story. Explain it again. multiple
Speaker:times, have them hear things and hear it in different ways
Speaker:with different words, different ideas
Speaker:so that one of those is gonna click and then give them
Speaker:those opportunities to reflect and to self
Speaker:assess. Have something in the beginning, have things
Speaker:throughout, definitely have something at least at the end
Speaker:where they can realize, Oh, I have grown.
Speaker:I have made changes. We are not great at
Speaker:doing that on our own and saying, Oh, I've really grown in the
Speaker:last week, or I've really progressed. We always see the negative
Speaker:for, like, oh, I'm still in the same place I was. You need to
Speaker:be able to have that opportunity to say, no. You know what?
Speaker:I really did grow. Those moments for me are the moments
Speaker:I journal occasionally. I'm not great at it. But when I
Speaker:go back and read things and I'm like, oh my goodness. That's what I was
Speaker:thinking, like, a month ago. how much I've grown and
Speaker:changed, and I wouldn't get those moments if I couldn't look back
Speaker:at that time exactly what I was thinking.
Speaker:I call those when we focus on the negative, I call those the
Speaker:ants, the automatic negative thoughts because that's really where,
Speaker:unfortunately, most of us live in the a n t s's,
Speaker:the ants -- Mhmm. -- automatic negative thoughts. Having those
Speaker:journal pages or a survey or a checklist
Speaker:or a a note that you took where someone asked you a question and you
Speaker:gave a rating, a numbered rating, and then you look back 2
Speaker:months later, and that number has changed, then you
Speaker:see the progress that you've made. And it's
Speaker:positive. Hopefully. Yes. It's positive progress.
Speaker:And if not, then you can assess that and say, alright. Well, I guess I
Speaker:need to do something different. Right. And if
Speaker:you're teaching, I mean, we've been talking a lot about, like, mind shift things,
Speaker:but if you're teaching an actual skill
Speaker:of, okay, how do you create a
Speaker:email funnel? Each step that they take, have
Speaker:them put it in a spot or somehow acknowledge I've
Speaker:done this. Slowly move them through the steps so that at the
Speaker:end, they can look back and go Oh, yeah. Look at all
Speaker:that I've really created. Give them that chance to reflect
Speaker:on, I did do a lot of things. I did
Speaker:build this or create whatever and give them
Speaker:a chance to feel really proud for what they have done And that
Speaker:means they're gonna be very excited for what you did for them, and
Speaker:that's when you get the referrals and the people who wanna just sing your
Speaker:praises because they can see it. Right.
Speaker:Like the checklist. If there's a checklist, step 1, they did that
Speaker:2, 3, 4, or if it you've got a series of videos, could even
Speaker:have a checklist for the series of videos that they see. Wow. Look at all
Speaker:this. I've done. And praise them as they go through it.
Speaker:Have some way that you can add some fun into what
Speaker:you're doing, assuming the content is appropriate for
Speaker:that, but some way that have a funny gif in the middle of
Speaker:it. If for this part of the course, it's just a fun
Speaker:cat video or something to make them feel I can do this.
Speaker:This isn't so serious. I can make my way through it.
Speaker:Send them email even if it's just an
Speaker:automatic email that goes out. Just say, keep going. I got your back.
Speaker:What do you need? Just encourage them to keep moving forward.
Speaker:Sarah, this is such valuable information. I am so
Speaker:glad that you shared this with everyone. And I know that you've got
Speaker:something else up your sleeve for everyone here. So
Speaker:tell us about this checklist for course engagement that you're making
Speaker:available for people. How do we get it? So
Speaker:there'll be a link, and I have it on my site. And my focus
Speaker:has really been engaging in courses. And so what
Speaker:this checklist is going to do is let you take a step
Speaker:back and go through and see. Am I
Speaker:doing this? Is there a chance for me to step in and
Speaker:maybe tweak some things a little bit and add
Speaker:in. And then take a moment and praise yourself. You know what? I
Speaker:already do this really well because I'm sure that there are things that you
Speaker:are doing very well. And then the things that like,
Speaker:you know what? I know I should do that, and I'm guilty of this as
Speaker:well. I know I need to do that. Give yourself the time then
Speaker:to actually go through and take action on the checklist
Speaker:and actually make some changes in what you already have out there. And
Speaker:then when you make your next thing, Have that kind of to the site as
Speaker:a little reminder of what you need to include. Awesome. We will
Speaker:have that link in the show notes. So
Speaker:you don't have to remember anything if you're listening. Right. Right now,
Speaker:you can just go to the show notes and get that. Tell us your website
Speaker:Sarah, and what social media platform do you hang out
Speaker:most? I am at sarahshoop.com,
Speaker:s h o o p. very easy to remember, and you can
Speaker:absolutely sing the song because that's what people do.
Speaker:And I'm actually not on social media. I have backed off personally from
Speaker:it. And I am really doing a lot of, well,
Speaker:podcasts and bundles and things to get my information out, but the
Speaker:website is the best place to find me. And there's a
Speaker:contact page, and I absolutely it's just me. I
Speaker:read every email. I will respond to anything, so I
Speaker:would love to hear from people. Beautiful.
Speaker:Okay. So it's sarahshoop.com.
Speaker:And, again, I'll put in the show notes how people can get ahold
Speaker:of checklist for course engagement. So we'll have that in the show
Speaker:notes. Well, thank you so much, Sarah. This has been great, and
Speaker:I really look forward to getting my copy of that. checklist
Speaker:and going through that myself. So Thank you so much for
Speaker:having me. This was so much fun. I could talk all day about this. And
Speaker:I could talk to you about this all day. Alright. We may have to have
Speaker:you come back on a different subject. Alright. Sounds good.
Speaker:Thanks a lot. And thank you all listeners for tuning in again to
Speaker:another episode. And until next week, make sure that you're getting your
Speaker:content out there. See you next week. Thank you for
Speaker:tuning into this episode of the She's got content podcast.
Speaker:I hope you got at least one nugget to take action on this week.
Speaker:If you got value from today's episode, I would be so grateful when you
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Speaker:And last but never least, if you want an endless supply of just right
Speaker:ideas for content you can write about for your blog posts,
Speaker:your emails, your videos, podcast episodes, all the content
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