Why Dancing Baseball Players Should Change How You Create Solutions For Your Audience
AKA why you should stop creating courses (when you should be solving problems)
In 2015, the Savannah Bananas, a minor league baseball team, were $1.8 million in debt. By 2023, they were making over $30 million a year in profit. What changed?
In their inaugural season, they weren't getting enough fans into the stadium. Instead of investing millions in stadium improvements or star players, the owner tried something simple: he had four players learn a basic dance routine.
The audience went wild for it. By the second game, these dancing players were signing more autographs than anyone else on the team. By the third game, the owner overheard a woman tell her husband, "Shut up, honey, they're about to dance." That's when he knew they were onto something.
This simple experiment evolved into a social media phenomenon with millions of views and consistently sold-out games—all from trying something different, cheaper, and simpler than the "obvious" solutions.
This is exactly what we need to do when creating solutions for our audience. Don't automatically assume you need a course or more information. Find the simplest possible solution—the thing that requires the least effort for people to get results.
When people think about sharing their expertise, their first thought is often "I should create a course!" But here's the thing: your first thought shouldn't actually be to create a course. Your first thought should be to solve a problem for your audience.
And if you're solving a problem, a course is NOT always the best way to do it.
The Goal Is NOT Information—It's Transformation
Let me give you an example. For my own courses, I've developed a method of onboarding (all the things you do to get participants ready for a course) that works really well. We've tried multiple approaches—onboarding in a week, onboarding for a month, you name it.
My clients can probably get 50-60% of the benefits from just being given some templates and checklists. There's really no point in creating an entire course for it.
And that's the key: you don't have to go for 100% when you teach people something.
If I gave someone my entire onboarding system as a course, they'd spend way too much time consuming information when implementation is exceedingly simple. So instead, I created a simple checklist with two formats:
Here's the minimum format—implement these 5 onboarding activities, and you're already ahead of courses that don't even do those things.
Here's the deluxe version with 10 activities that prepare people for your course if you want to go all-in.
But it's still just a checklist with some explanation. It comes with email templates and examples. A full-blown course is not needed.
So How Do We Determine What Will Really Help People?
The goal is to ask:
What is the outcome we're trying to deliver?
What is the most efficient, least time-consuming way for the user to get that outcome?
I don't want to create a course on onboarding because I don't think that's the most time-efficient way to help people do it. It's more efficient to just show examples, give templates, and let people add their own content.
More Examples to Consider
Think about marathon training. Do beginners need a course? No—they need a printout that tells them what to do each week. Elite athletes might need explanations of the science and principles to adjust their training, but beginners just need a plan.
Or consider cooking. Do you need a course to learn how to cook a recipe? No, you can use a cookbook. But what if the goal isn't to teach someone how to cook a recipe, but to change their shopping, eating, and cooking habits? Then you might want a course with graded activities, support groups, and accountability—not just content.
How to Decide What Your Audience Actually Needs
Here's a simple framework to determine the right format for your solution:
Define the outcome—What's the ultimate goal you'll help people achieve?
Identify the obstacles—From your experience, what stops people from achieving this goal? If you don't know, find out! List all these obstacles.
Develop solutions—If you've overcome these obstacles yourself, list the solutions you came up with. If not, find solutions others have created.
Choose the format—Only now should you decide the best delivery method:
Can people do this in a self-guided way?
Would a simple checklist or step-by-step guide be enough?
Is this so emotionally challenging or habit-breaking that they need support from others?
Do they need hands-on guidance, accountability, or both?
The point is to throw away your preconceptions about what's required. Don't assume information alone is needed. Don't assume it has to be a course or a book.
Think about what actually works in your experience to help people get from point A to point B. Then consider what kind of support they need to make those changes.
Remember This
The goal is NOT the information. The goal is the behavior change and skill development that the person's going to experience.
Are you seeing the problem? When we jump straight to "I'll create a course" without first understanding what people truly need to overcome their obstacles, we're putting the format before the solution.
Just like the Savannah Bananas, a minor league baseball team, didn't need a multi-million dollar stadium renovation—they needed a simple dance routine—your audience might not need a comprehensive course. They might need a checklist, a template, or a simple framework that gets them results faster.
Sometimes the most helpful thing isn't a course at all—it's something simpler, faster, and more effective.
What do your people really need to succeed? Start there, and the right format will follow.
Next time you catch yourself thinking "I should create a course," pause and ask yourself: "What problem am I really solving, and what's the most efficient way to solve it?"
But What If You DO Need to Create a Course?
If you've gone through this process and determined that a course really is the best format to help your audience, then you want to make sure you create it efficiently without getting overwhelmed.
That's exactly why I created The Atomic Course Blueprint—a simple, repeatable system to build courses fast. It helps you focus on what matters most: delivering results to your students without getting lost in complexity.
Want to create a course without the usual overwhelm? See for yourself here.
Have thoughts on this? I'd love to hear them. Simply reply to this email and share your experience.