Why the results-focus leads to tiny but valuable courses
And check out a test of a new business model
Hi again,
I'm so happy to be back in full swing and delivering another newsletter.
If you're a regular reader, you know I had serious exhaustion some weeks ago so I'm happy to now feel back to normal again. If you want to see what was happening, you can see this past newsletter [link].
In this issue, I discuss:
I. A business model test: Email Coaching
II. Why the results focus leads to tiny but valuable courses
III. Your own results-focused course
Let's get started!
I. A business model test: Email Coaching
As a business owner, how can you get reliable answers to your complex business problems?
When I built my first online business in the early 2000s, it was difficult to find answers to my questions.
I might have a question about marketing or technology or how to roll out a project.
Of course, I tried the internet. And just like today the answers online were often unpredictable and contradictory.
Every so often, I'd find a good book to guide me, but there was no way to contact the author if I had a question.
All it would take is just one unclear element to slow me down or halt my project all together.
Wouldn't it be great to have a trusted source of answers?
This is why I'm offering Unlimited Email Based Coaching for 30 days. This is only for people who
Think I can help them
Have questions
Willing to go on this 30 day experiment with me
If that's you, click here for more details.
For this first experiment, I will only take 5 clients since this is an experiment. If those spots are taken, anyone else who wants one will have to wait.
There are terms on the page. If you agree to them, I look forward to getting your questions soon.
II. Why the results focus leads to tiny but valuable courses
What do each of the following statements have in common?
"Save money by spending it"
"If I know one thing, it's that I know nothing"
"This is the beginning of the end"
"Deep down, you're really shallow"
"I'm a compulsive liar"
Did you guess?
They are all paradoxes, statements or situations that seem to contradict themselves even if they may be true.
Well, I'm here to offer you another paradox.
You can build a more valuable course by making it smaller ... but only if you design it in a particular way.
What's that particular way?
It's with a results-focus. A results focus means creating a course so that the student has a particular result at the end. And that result is not that they have learned a list of ideas.
It is a change in behavior or skills and sometimes other external measures.
Consider this: Your students took your course because they want something to change in their lives. Maybe they want more money or to get in better shape or have a deeper relationship with their spouse.
Whatever the change they are seeking, they can only achieve it if they DO something different than they are doing now. Knowing things doesn't help. Only changing behavior matters.
For something to change, someone has to start doing something differently.
That is the aim of every results-focused course. Give the students what they need to do something differently. You are not teaching your students a laundry list of topics and ideas.
You are helping them do something different or do something better.
You aren't teaching what a good headline looks like, instead teach a method for creating great headlines.
Instead of teaching a photographer the rules of composition, you give them a process to compose great shots.
Instead of telling them what a good workshop looks like, you help them design one of their own.
No matter what you teach, don't teach information, teach a process or method to achieve a result.
What are the advantages of a results focus?
As an instructor, the results focus saves you time since you know what to include and what to leave out. You don't need a comprehensive background on your topic. You don't need to each everything the competition is teaching. You only need to teach a process to lead your students to a result.
As a marketer, it's easier to sell your course. When someone asks "What do I get for my money?" You can point to the big benefit or problem your method solves.
And for your students, the advantage is they don't have to figure out how to apply what you've taught them. You figured that out for them so they can swiftly move to implementation.
Here are some examples.
How to make Twitter Friends, a free email course, by Kevon Cheung offers a specific result. You will make Twitter friends who will interact with you and your content. Kevon teaches a specific 5-step process to help you do that.
In my course the Atomic Course Blueprint you learn a three-step process to make a course that takes less than an hour for a student to complete that delivers a specific result.
Notice what both courses have in common - steps. All good teaching leads to steps, a recipe that a student can reliably follow to get results.
But everyone else in my field is covering a ton of content and not worrying about results, why should I?
Their mistake is to your advantage. If no one else is delivering clear results, your course will stand out. Determine a result you can provide and ensure your students achieve it.
There's no field in which compelling results are ignored.
Sure there might be a few people who rave about getting 20 hours of video or hundreds of pages to read, but savvy students will be delighted that you figured out how to help them without all that time and effort.
You'll help prove this paradox: You learn more in less time. But that's only true if your teaching is laser focused on a clear result.
III. Want to create your own results-focused course?
The Atomic Course Blueprint gives you a step-by-step approach to defining the results of your course, then using simple structures to outline and create it. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by details, you can calmly follow a process.
See for yourself.
Check out the Atomic Course Blueprint.
Still here?
You’re a champ.
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