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AMY PORTERFIELD: “Okay, now I'm looking at you, friend. Grab your pen and notebook. And if you're multitasking, come back to me, because it's your turn. If you do one-on-one coaching, could you turn that into a digital course? That's a trick question, because the answer is yes. You might think, ‘Well, wait a second, Amy. I work in a really unique way with people. It's very individual. It's very personal. I could never turn that into a digital course.’ My friend, have you ever heard of the Special Snowflake Syndrome, where we all—this is not just you. I've done it before as well—we all think that what we do is unique? And even though, ‘Yeah, that works for you, but it would never work for me because x, y, and z,’ it's easy just to go there really quickly. But how is that serving you? How does that even help you scale your business, expand, create new things? It doesn't.”
“So back to the trick question. If you do one-on-one consulting, could you turn that process into a digital course? Heck, yeah, you can. And if you think you can't, well, what if you can? Let's just pretend you can. What might that look like? Because there's only one of you, you could only make so much money doing one on one, and why not create a digital course based on what you do in your one-on-one sessions, and then charge more for your one-on-one sessions, only take a few premium clients a year, and everybody else gets to buy your digital course? Talk about freedom. Only saying yes to the clients that you really want to work with? Yes, please.”
INTRO: I’m Amy Porterfield, ex-corporate girl turned CEO of a multi-million-dollar business. But it wasn't all that long ago that I lacked the confidence, money, and time to focus on growing my small-but-mighty business. Fast forward past many failed attempts and lessons learned, and you'll see the business I have today, one that changes lives and gives me more freedom than I ever thought possible, one that used to only exist as a daydream. I created the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast to give you simple, actionable, step-by-step strategies to help you do the same. If you're an ambitious entrepreneur, or one in the making, who's looking to create a business that makes an impact and helps you create a life you love, you're in the right place. Let's get started.
Okay, before we get going, a quick word from our sponsor.
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Okay, on to the episode.
You do know that you're an expert, right? And you also know that there are a lot of people who would love to know what you know or learn how to do something specifically that you've done. Now, I hear you saying, “Okay, Amy. Where are you going with this?” and I promise I have a point. What I'm trying to say to you is that you have a digital course in you, and today I'm going to help you identify just that.
After eleven years as an online entrepreneur and digital-course creator, I've seen a lot of digital-course topics, with all kinds of different focuses. From teaching people how to make sourdough bread to helping people save for their retirement, I’ve seen it all, which is kind of neat if you think about it. There could be and should be a digital course for pretty much everything that you can think of that somebody wants to learn how to do something or somebody wants specific results.
So why can't that someone be you? Your digital course is in you right now; you just got to figure out what it is. In fact, there's never been a better time ever to create a digital course, because, let's be real—more and more people are wanting to learn online. Our world changed with the pandemic, and it's never going to go back to what it was. And there was already a rise for e-learning. Let me tell you, it's stronger than ever.
By the end of today's episode, my goal is to have your mind full of digital-course ideas so that you can take one and run with it. I'm going to give you examples from my amazing students to get your creative juices flowing, along with some other course ideas that I've seen work, and we're going to wrap up with something I've never done before on this podcast. So be sure to stick with me until the very end, because I'm going to premiere a new strategy that I know is going to help you get very clear on the focus and expertise that you can teach in a digital course.
All right. Let's dive right in and kick it off with my student, Marilyn Alauria. Now, Marilyn is a psychic medium who helps people create the life they want by aligning their soul to their goals. And guess what. She went from corporate workhorse to a psychic medium, making $500,000 with her online courses.
Here's her story. Backtracking a few years, Marilyn had a very successful Emmy Award-winning career in the entertainment industry as a line producer for the NBC Olympics and the MTV Network. Not too shabby, right? But here's the catch. She was miserable. She felt like she wasn't using her natural gifts, exploring her passion, or even helping people in the way that really fulfilled her. Can you relate to this at all? Maybe not, but I sure could.
When I was in corporate, I had a really cushy job. I got to work with Tony Robbins. How cool is that? But I was miserable because I knew I wasn't doing what I wanted to be doing, I wasn't calling the shots, I wasn't creating on my own terms, and so it wasn't right for me. And the same thing for Marilyn. She just wasn't happy. So it's okay even if you have a good thing going and you still know it's not where you want to be.
So she felt a draw to do something that brought her more joy, and she had this gift of being a psychic medium. And so she thought, “You know, even if it's going to be a complete 180 and I need to change paths, I'm going to do it.” So she started working with people one on one, out of her house, doing psychic readings and teaching spirituality, which, as you can imagine, is a very different calling from her corporate work. Her schedule filled up quickly, and soon she was able to quit her job and continue growing her business full time. So that's amazing in itself.
However, doing back-to-back, in-person, one-on-one sessions, quickly exhausted Marilyn, even though she loved the work. She knew that if she wanted to continue to grow her business, she needed to transition online. So after stumbling upon some of my teachings, she started to see how she could make her business work online, even though people told her that her psychic-medium niche would never translate to online courses. But she was determined. She said, “Thank goodness I didn't listen to them, because my last launch brought in over $54,000, and I'm looking at closing out this year with $500,000 in revenue.”
What? Don’t listen to them. Let them doubt you. Let them tell you it's not going to work. Who cares? You just keep moving forward.
So what I love so much about Marilyn's story is that creating a digital course has given her the flexibility to make her own schedule and do the things that bring her even more joy. The reason I wanted to share Marilyn's story first is that she's proof that it doesn't matter how many accolades you have or how much success you've experienced in your career. If it doesn’t bring you joy, or if you’re miserable, it’s not worth it. Marilyn's story gives you permission to change directions and go down a path that may not be related to anything that you're doing right now, and that's okay.
Another thing I love about her story is that she took something that people doubted would translate online and she made it wildly successful. I've seen other students do this as well. You'd be amazed at how you can pretty much make anything work with an online course these days.
Okay, so I want you to think about Marilyn's story. Can you relate to it? Is there something that you're really good at but you're afraid to pivot because you've been working so hard to achieve something or climb the corporate ladder even though you're miserable? Or do you have a side hobby, or are you an expert at something that others think won't translate online into a digital course? Prove them wrong.
All right, let's move on.
Next, I want to share a story about one of my students, Casey Snelling. So Casey is a SVG design mentor and passive-income strategist for crafters and artists. And by the way, I had no idea what an SVG file was. I had to look it up. I didn't even know it was a file. But it's a cut file used to upload to cutting machines. So Casey had been selling designs for Cricut and Silhouette cutting machines on Etsy, and she did extremely well with that. In fact, she completely replaced her income so she could work from home.
So then, she started to notice that no one else was doing this the way she was using Adobe Illustrator, and because of this, people were always asking her, “How are you doing these designs?” Ding, ding, ding. She knew that she had valuable information that other people wanted. And so she started to think, “Wait a second. I could turn this into a course. There's multiple steps to do what I do. People want to know how to do it. It's easy for me, so I can teach them.” So that's what she did.
She went through Digital Course Academy®️, learned how to create and launch a course, generated $15,000 her first launch, and then $30,000 her next launch. And she didn't use any Facebook Ads to generate that revenue. Pretty cool, right?
Now, think about it. Casey was using a tool—Adobe illustrator—and with that, she was creating these designs for a specific cutting machine, and people wanted to know how the heck she was doing that. You've got to pay attention to what people are asking you. So when you put things on social media, when you teach people how to do something, is there something else? They're like, “Yeah, but what about that one step? How do you do that?” Or do you often get the same questions over and over again? Dive into that. That could be your digital course.
Now, maybe your first idea, you’re like, “Wait a second. What about this? What about that?” That's fine. Keep brainstorming. Keep fleshing it out. You'll get there. Pay attention to what people are asking you. Deal? Okay.
Next up, I want to introduce Tanya Smith. Now, Tanya is another story I love because what she's doing now has evolved over time, and really, you would never imagine this would have been her evolution, and I'm pretty sure she would have never imagined it either. So Tanya was a corporate-banker-turned-boudoir-photographer. Yeah, you heard me right. So now Tanya's photography business has totally taken off. She did this huge shift in what she was doing, and she found herself making six figures annually and charging around $5,000 per client. Now, this is before she created a course.
So, first of all, let's talk about this. She went from banker to boudoir photographer. If you think you can't make a change in your life, think again. That's a limiting belief. If you think you can't dramatically make a turn just because your heart tells you it's time, this is what you want; if you’re telling yourself that can't happen, check yourself, because it can. And it is never too late to create. That's what one of my students, Anne LaFollette, always says. She's in her sixties, and she started late as well in her fifties. And she says it's never too late to create. And I totally agree with her.
Okay, so, back to Tanya. She made this sharp turn in her career. Now she's making six figures. Now, other boudoir photographers started to take notice, and they kept asking her how she did it. So as most entrepreneurs would do in this situation, she started mentoring other photographers one on one. However, she quickly found that this totally drained her energy and her time. It just wasn't for her. It just left her feeling like she was experiencing Groundhog Day over and over again. So that wasn't the way she wanted to go.
So she actually found List Builders Society®️, my list-building program, and she learned more about growing her email list, and she started to learn about the world of digital courses. And she immediately knew that she could turn her mentoring, one-on-one content into a digital course. Now, after completing Digital Course Academy®️, that's exactly what she did. She now has The Profitable Boudoir and Portrait Academy, and recently made over $25,000 on her first launch.
Okay, now I'm looking at you, friend. Grab your pen and notebook. And if you're multitasking, come back to me, because it's your turn. If you do one-on-one coaching, could you turn that into a digital course? That's a trick question, because the answer is yes. You might think, “Well, wait a second, Amy. I work in a really unique way with people. It's very individual. It's very personal. I could never turn that into a digital course.” My friend, have you ever heard of the Special Snowflake Syndrome, where we all—this is not just you. I've done it before as well—we all think that what we do is unique? And even though, “Yeah, that works for you, but it would never work for me because x, y, and z,” it's easy just to go there really quickly. But how is that serving you? How does that even help you scale your business, expand, create new things? It doesn't.
So back to the trick question. If you do one-on-one consulting, could you turn that process into a digital course? Heck, yeah, you can. And if you think you can't, well, what if you can? Let's just pretend you can. What might that look like? Because there's only one of you, you could only make so much money doing one on one, and why not create a digital course based on what you do in your one-on-one sessions, and then charge more for your one-on-one sessions, only take a few premium clients a year, and everybody else gets to buy your digital course? Talk about freedom. Only saying yes to the clients that you really want to work with? Yes, please.
All right. Moving on. Danira Cancinos. Now, if you've been with me for a while, you know that I love Danira’s story. So if you've already heard it, well, you're going to hear it again, because if you haven't yet created a digital course, this one is really important for you to hear.
Okay, so, because we're talking about unexpected courses, I had to share this because Danira is a single mother, mother of three. She went from poverty and working part time at one job, and then teaching baking classes on the side, and then running her own successful business. Now, let's back up a bit. As I said, Danira was working part time at a j-o-b and was also teaching baking classes. She was teaching them in person and charging around ten to fifteen dollars per person online, and $200 for an in-person, hands-on class. Now, she eventually decided to up her cost to $200 for an online class, even though she was worried that people wouldn’t pay it, I mean, she went from ten bucks to $200. And they paid.
So Danira continued to slowly grow her online presence and was toying with the idea of creating an online course about—if you know her story, you know what I'm going to say—caramel-candy apples. But she didn't really know how she was going to do that. Eventually, she enrolled in Digital Course Academy®️, which she admits was a very scary investment for her. But she gained the knowledge she needed to move forward with her caramel-apple course. And oh, boy, did she ever. She went on to make over $60,000 on her launch of this course. Then she launched again and made $62,000. So there's that. She's also gone on to make another course specifically about sugar cookies, and that's made around $60,000 on that launch as well. So she's kind of kicking butt, right?
Now, it is your turn. Do you have a hobby or something that you do on the side that you can turn into a digital course, something that you're really, really good at? Now, if you don’t know Danira’s story, I’m going to tell you something because this might spark some ideas for you.
When I interviewed Danira in a livestream—she came out to San Diego for my last launch of DCA, and in person, I interviewed her. And I literally fumbled over her story because I actually had it wrong. What I didn't know is that Danira has this special way of making caramel-candy apples. Not too chewy, not too sweet. Just right. Delicious. And so I would tell people, like, “She's just got this special recipe.” And she said, “Amy,”—we were live on video. She's like, “I don't have a special recipe. I actually just know where to go to get the best caramel. And then it's already prepackaged, and I just bring it home, and I know how to work with it well.” I'm like, “Wait, what?” Yeah, her caramel is actually prepackaged, already made. But people don't know where to get it or how to work with it.
Do you hear me? You do not need to be the expert of all experts. Quite honestly, you need to have the courage to teach what you know. I really do think that that is Danira’s secret sauce. She had the courage to teach what she was really good at. She was really good at these caramel-candy apples. I know because she gave me one, and I literally wouldn’t share it with Hobie. I ate the whole thing. Delicious. And they’re beautiful. But she buys the caramel at a special store that people just don’t know about. It doesn't have to be complicated, my friend. You just have to have the courage to do it.
Okay, so, let's change things up just a bit. Remember at the beginning of this episode I said that I wanted to flood you with ideas for a digital course so when this episode is over you have a few good ideas that resonate with you, or maybe one idea that you're totally fixated on and you want to run forward with it? Well, in order to make sure you have a bunch of ideas swirling around in your head, I'm going to run through some course-topic ideas. Now, maybe they totally will resonate with you, or maybe not, but they still might spark a different idea. You just never know what might come up. So are you ready? Okay, here we go.
Do you have one or two or more Airbnb properties that you rent out? You could create a digital course on how to get that set up, how to successfully rent out your properties, how to market your properties, and how to go above and beyond to deliver an experience to your renters. That could be a digital course.
Or are you a teacher who's figured out tips and tools to automate or systematize your classroom? Maybe you have a stellar organization system for teaching and engaging your students online. You could create a digital course where you train other teachers how to use these exact systems.
Are you a personal trainer who's perfected your marketing system, or maybe you’ve successfully transitioned to training 100 percent online? Same thing. You could train other trainers how to do just what you've done.
Or maybe you're a master gardener. Great! People would pay good money to know how to plant, nurture, and maintain a garden that produces healthy plants and veggies.
Have you perfected how to take care of curly hair? Have you built a tiny house, and now you know the ins and outs and the dos and don'ts of the process? Do you know how to pass the bar exam, and you can teach someone else the quickest way to study, prepare, and pass on their first try? All of these can be turned into a digital course that could transform your business and your life. Sometimes you just have to take a step back and think outside of the box.
Okay, so, hopefully, by now, you're getting some ideas about what you might want to turn into a digital course. Now let’s have a little fun. I'm going to do something I've never done on this podcast before. We're going to do a series of rapid-fire questions, and you, my friend, are going to be the one who answers them. Yep. You.
Now, if you're somewhere that you could really take this seriously, go grab a notebook and a pencil or pen. I'm a pencil kind of girl. Go grab a notebook. I want you to actually write down your answers. And if you need to pause me to write them down, and then press Play again and I'll continue with the questions, great. Or if you're driving right now, working out, just answer the questions in your head. Deal? Okay, you ready?
First thing that pops into your head. What are you an expert at within your profession? What are you an expert at outside of your profession? What topics light you up within your profession or any area of your life? What makes you happy? What makes you excited? What do you love to talk about? What would you love to teach about? Is there something that you like to do during your free time that you're really good at? What hobbies do you have, and which ones do you excel at? What is something that people ask you often about or look to you as the expert? When do you hear, “How’d you do that? Tell me more”? Have you gotten a transformation for yourself that you could teach to others? Have you gotten a transformation for your neighbor, for your mom, for your sister, that you could teach to others? If you looked deep into your soul, ultimately, what would you love to teach others so that when you see them get results, it totally lights you up?
All right, my friend. I hope by now you have a few ideas for a digital course. Or maybe you have one idea that you're fixated on and you want to brainstorm on it a little bit more, flesh it out a little bit more, and run with it. No matter what, I'm just thrilled that you're thinking about a digital course.
Now, I know I said this earlier, but I want to say it again. I believe that everyone has a digital course in them. It's just a matter of slowing down and identifying the things that you love and what you know and where you're an expert, and also, if there's a demand for it. All of that can be figured out.
Now, maybe you're saying, “I hear you, Amy. But I'm still a little unclear about my course topic.” Well, my friend, I have just the free resource to help you with that. I've created a brand-new free quiz to help you identify your personal path to creating a profitable digital course. Holy cow. I am so excited about this quiz. We pored over it to make sure that it was accurate and relevant and valuable for you. You do not want to skip taking this quiz.
Now, here's the deal. Whether you've gotten results for yourself in the past or you've gotten results for someone else or maybe you perfected a system that you can teach others, this quiz will help you gain clarity around your course topic and what path you should take in creating it. So here's what I want you to do this very minute. Go to amyporterfield.com/quiz. It takes just two minutes to complete this quiz, and then you're going to get your results, which I call your outcomes. And that's where we pored over to make sure that you have your marching orders. You're clear as to what type of course you want to create, and you know what to do next. And I've got this three-step process to kickstart your entire course-creation journey. You'll learn about those depending on which results you get from the quiz. So it's very specific. Do not skip it. Amyporterfield.com/quiz. Let’s get going with your digital-course journey.
All right. Thank you so much for tuning in. I can’t wait to talk to you again next week, same time, same place. Bye for now.
