The Market Your Message Show
The Market Your Message Show
Ch 8. Developing Your Mini-Course (Teachers)
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Developing Your First Mini Course: From Idea to Launch
In this chapter, learn how to rapidly create and launch your first mini course by focusing on solving a single specific problem. The script explores the history of song pluggers and how their method of offering quick previews can be applied to mini courses. Key instructions provided include picking a super-niche topic, structuring the course with actionable steps, and targeting a compelling before-and-after transformation. The chapter also covers common pitfalls, like the 'Sistine Chapel Trap,' and offers a 15-minute exercise to help you choose your mini course topic and outline it. This approach ensures ease of creation and maximizes value by focusing on a specific outcome.
00:00 Introduction to Mini Course Development
00:04 The Role of Song Pluggers in Music History
01:35 Applying Song Plugger Principles to Online Courses
02:46 Avoiding the Mega Course Trap
06:17 Crafting a Laser-Focused Mini Course
10:14 Today's Exercise: Finding Your Mini Course Sweet Spot
13:05 Key Takeaways for Mini Course Success
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Hello and welcome to the market. Your message show. I'm your host, Jonathan Milligan. And we are going through the third book in the series. Validate your offer. This is an important book because a lot of people will start their business online. And then they're trying to figure out how do I create something that people will want and how do I do it without wasting time? And that's what this third book in my book series is all about. Now as a thank you for being a loyal podcast listener, I am making the audio book available one chapter at a time every single week. And as you're listening to this, we are currently going through that. Validate your offer. Now, if you ever want the audio book or you want the book or the workbook, you can go to platform growth, books.com again, it's platform, growth books.com, and you could order one of those. And of course, listen, as you go through the book or use the workbook to implement what you hear. In each episode. So with that being said, let's jump right in to today's chapter.
Speaker 17:Chapter 8. Developing your mini course. Teachers. Music publishers faced a daunting challenge in the early 1900s. No radio, no TV, no Spotify. Just the challenging task of promoting new tunes to the masses with nothing more than paper and pianos. Pushing new songs was painfully expensive and slow. Most heard a melody once and quickly forgot it. Sheet music sat unsold, collecting dust. What was a publisher to do? Enter the song pluggers, part pianist, part traveling salesman. These unsung heroes of the early music industry. Had one job, give people a taste of the latest tunes, armed with a grin and a gig book. They'd travel the country, setting up mini concerts in public spaces. A hotel lobby here, a theater entrance there. Wherever folks gathered, the pluggers were there, tickling the ivories. And here's the genius part. They'd only play 20 seconds of each song, just enough to get the melody stuck in your mind. Just enough to leave you wanting more. Then, they'd pack up their piano and vanish, leaving a trail of catchy tunes in their wake. The result? A surge in sheet music sales.
The mini concerts wormed earworms deep into the minds of the masses.
Speaker 17:And once a tune took hold, people raced to buy the sheet music so they could play it themselves. The songpluggers discovered a powerful principle. A well crafted preview can capture attention and drive demand. Fast. And that same principle is the key to quickly launching your first online course. Just like a 20 second song preview, a short mini course gives your audience a taste of what you offer. A handful of videos, each just a few minutes long, laser focused on solving one specific problem. It's not the whole symphony. Just the hook, the core value concentrated. And just like those song previews, a strong mini course leaves people wanting more. It provides a quick win, a burst of success. And once they've had that taste, they're primed to buy your full program. In this chapter, I'll show you how to rapidly create your own mini course and get it up for sale lightning fast. We'll cover. The power of solving a single specific problem. How to structure your mini course as a series of quick actionable steps. The key to positioning your mini course as an irresistible before and after transformation. A 15 minute exercise to choose your mini course topic and get started this week. By the end of this chapter, you'll have a simple proven process for going from idea to offer in record time. So grab a seat and let's dive in. Class is about to begin.
Speaker 18:The one mistake that stops most course creators in their tracks. So you're excited to create your first online course. Congrats. Teaching what you know is one of the most satisfying and profitable ways to share your gifts with the world. But where most new course creators go wrong is when they set out to build the ultimate mega course. You know, that hulking beast of a program that covers every conceivable aspect of the topic. The one that takes months or even years to create. The one that sucks up every spare moment and leaves you wondering if you'll ever actually get to launch the darn thing. I call this the Sistine Chapel Trap. Instead of focusing on creating a simple, useful product, you get seduced by the idea of painting a masterpiece. A magnum opus that will stand the test of time and submit your status as the ultimate authority on the subject. And, hey, I get it. It's natural to want your course to be definitive. To imagine students bowing at your brilliance as you reveal secret after secret. But here's the hard truth. Trying to be too comprehensive is the enemy of actually launching the thing. When you set out to cover everything, you quickly get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of content you could include. You start second guessing yourself, wondering what to put in and what to leave out. You fall into an endless loop of planning, researching, and outlining, never quite feeling ready to start putting pixels on the screen. Weeks turn to months. Your enthusiasm fades. The project starts to feel more like a burden than a joy. You tell yourself you just need a bit more time to get it right. But deep down. You know, the real issue you've bitten off more than you can chew. Here's a liberating truth. Your course doesn't need to be the end all be all Epic on the topic. It doesn't need to answer every question or cover every scenario. Thoroughness is not the goal. Transformation is your job is not to cram your customer's heads full of information. It's to help them solve a specific problem. Or achieve a specific goal. And the more tightly you can focus your course on that singular outcome, the easier it will be to create and the more valuable it will be to your customers. Think about it this way. When you have a leaky faucet, you don't need a plumber to explain the entire history and theory of indoor plumbing. You just need them to show up and fix the leak. Your course is the same. Customers aren't coming to you for an exhaustive brain dump. They're coming to you for a targeted solution to a pressing problem. They want to get from A to B. Not explore every side road and scenic overlook along the way. The power of the mini course is that it forces you to zero in on delivering a single specific transformation.
You focus on getting customers from A to B, not A to Z.
Speaker 18:You cut out fluff, filler, and distractions. You hone in on the core steps they need to take to get one meaningful win. This narrow focus makes your course infinitely easier to create because you're no longer trying to boil the ocean. It makes it far more valuable to your customers because every lesson is laser targeted to help them get the result they came for. So as you set out to plan your mini course, keep this mantra in mind. One problem, one solution. Resist the temptation to expand your scope. Have the courage to keep it tight and focused. Your students and your sanity will thank you.
Speaker 19:The three keys to crafting a laser focused mini course. Now that we've covered the power of keeping your course tightly focused, let's dive into the step by step process for planning and outlining your mini course. There are three key phases. Step one. Pick a super niche topic. Broad is boring. The more narrowly you can define your course topic, the easier it will be to create and the more enticing it will be for your idle customers. For example, let's say you're a nutrition coach.
Instead of creating a generic healthy eating 101 course, zero in on a specific outcome, like seven days to kick sugar cravings.
Speaker 19:The more specific the promise, the more powerful the appeal. A recent study of Yodemi's top 1000 courses found that 80 percent focused on one specific skill. For example, mastering Python for data science, or watercolor painting for beginners. Niche courses trounce broad ones every time. The takeaway? Customers don't pay for information, they pay for transformation. And the more specific and tangible that transformation is, the more excited they'll be to whip out their wallets. A tight promise trumps vague concepts every time. Step two, think steps, not information. Once you've nailed your specific topic, it's time to break it down into bite sized steps, because here's the thing, your customers don't just need to know what to do. They need to know how to do it. Think of your course, like a recipe, giving students ingredients isn't enough. You need to walk them through the steps to combine the ingredients into a dish. Step one. Dice the onions is a lot more helpful than you'll need onions. So as you outline your mini course, think in terms of action steps, not just information aim for three to eight brief actionable steps, each of which will become a short video lesson for each step. Ask yourself, what does the customer need to do to move forward? Not just what do they need to know? Remember, action engages while facts bore. The more you can break things down into clear concrete steps, the more your students will actually implement what you teach. Step three, create the before and after. The most powerful way to position your mini course is to paint a vivid before and after picture. You want to be crystal clear on the transformation your course will provide. Ask yourself, how will customers feel before taking your course? Frustrated, overwhelmed, stuck. Now, how will they feel after completing it? Confident, relieved, empowered? As copywriting expert Samuel Hulick puts it, people don't buy products. They buy better versions of themselves. Your job is to vividly describe the better version your course will help them become. For example, let's say you're teaching a course on public speaking. The before state might be feeling anxious and avoiding speaking opportunities. The after state is feeling poised and confident, able to captivate any room. In your course marketing, you'd want to agitate the pain of the before state and then promise the pleasure of the after. For example, tired of breaking into a cold sweat every time you're asked to speak up in meetings? Imagine being able to stand up and share your ideas with confidence and poise. You would leave your colleagues impressed and inspired. That's exactly what you'll be able to do after completing my Confident Public Speaking mini course. The key takeaway, features tell, but benefits sell. Instead of just rattling off a list of what your course covers, focus on the real world impact it will have. How will your customer's day to day life be better as a result of taking your course? The more viscerally you can paint that picture, the more irresistible your offer will become.
Speaker 20:Today's exercise. Find your mini course sweet spot. All right, now it's time to take what you've learned and apply it to your own course creation process. Don't worry, this won't be some marathon brainstorming session that leaves you more overwhelmed than when you started. We're going to keep things focused and actionable, just like a good mini course should be. Here's your 15 minute exercise. Brainstorm three potential mini course topics. These should be tightly focused, specific outcomes you could help your customers achieve. Not broad overviews, but targeted solutions to pressing problems. Aim for topics you could reasonably cover in three to seven short video lessons. For each potential topic, jot down. The specific problem it solves. What pain point or frustration will this course alleviate for your customers? The more vividly you can articulate the problem, the more compelling your course will be. The 3 to 7 key steps you'd teach. Remember, think in terms of action steps, not just information. What will customers need to do to get from A to B? Break it down into clear, bite sized chunks. The before and after transformation. How will customers feel before taking your course? How will they feel after completing it? What tangible results will they be able to achieve? Paint a vivid picture of the transformation your course provides. Look over your three potential topics and pick the one that feels most exciting and energizing to you. Which one lights you up and gets your creative juices flowing? Which one do you feel most uniquely qualified to teach? Take that winning topic and start outlining your mini course in more detail. Flesh out each of the three to seven key steps with bullet points of what you'll cover. Jot down any specific examples, stories, or exercises you might want to include. The goal here is to strike while the iron is hot and make tangible progress on your course plan. You don't need to script out every word, but you should end up with a clear, clear outline. actionable outline that you can use as a roadmap for creating your course content. And here's the beautiful thing. Once you've completed this exercise, you'll be well on your way to having your first mini course ready to launch. You'll have a narrow topic. You'll have a clear outline. You'll have a compelling transformation for your customers. So, don't get bogged down trying to plan out some epic magnum opus. Just carve out 15 minutes, grab a notebook, or open up a fresh doc, and start brainstorming. The key is to take action and build momentum. Because the sooner you get that first mini course out into the world, the sooner you can start making sales and changing lives.
You've got this now let's get to work.
Speaker 20:Key takeaways. Creating a super specific mini course of 10 videos or less is often the fastest path to your first sale. Organize your course around a series of actionable steps, not just information.
Sell the transformation, get clear on the before and after, and focus your messaging on the benefits of the afterstate your course helps customers reach.