KATY CALDWELL: “So that is when Email Templates 101 was created.”
ALISSA JENKINS: “That's right. And we already had that content. So I know that we're supposed to be kind of helping you understand, like, well, we already use those things in our business. They were part of our real-estate business, they were part of what we were talking about to our audience, and so it was very easy for us to take those and then translate them into a course.”
INTRO: I’m Amy Porterfield, ex-corporate girl turned CEO of a multi-seven-figure business. But it wasn't all that long ago that I lacked the confidence, the budget, and the 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 a life you love, you're in the right place, friend. Let's get started.
AMY: Well, hey, there. Welcome back to Online Marketing Made Easy.
I'm so excited that you decided to hang out with me today, because if you tuned into the podcast episode last Tuesday, you know that I'm doing a little episode series. It's called the Myth Buster Series. And basically, I'm creating it to prove that just about anybody can make a digital course and be successful in doing so. I'll be honest. I wholeheartedly believe that digital courses can absolutely change your life and business, as they have mine and so many of my students’. So sometimes it just baffles me—and I know I'm biased—but it baffles me why someone would be so hesitant to create a course.
But then, at the same time, I've been around for a while, and I know all the reasons why people feel like they're stuck and can't move forward in terms of getting started with their course or getting finished with their course or finally launching their course. What I found is that there are five really common reasons why people don't create or finish their digital course, or why they push it off for a really long time and then they finally do it with regret that they wish they started sooner.
Those reasons are, number one, “My audience is way too small to make money from a digital course. I need a huge email list,” which is what we talked about a few weeks ago, for the record. So I shared a story from one of my students, Jan Ditchfield. That's episode 602. So amyporterfield.com/602. If you feel as though that your audience or email list is not big enough, go listen to that episode.
Number two, “I don't have time.” So if you are strapped for time, if you feel as though everything else is getting your attention but what you really want to focus on, check out episode 604. So that's amyporterfield.com/604. It's about my student, Mallory Rose, who's a single mom who proves that she can get it done. But she did it in a very specific way, and I wanted to share her process.
And then, number three, “I'm not credible enough, I don't know enough, I don't have enough expertise to create a digital course.” I want you to listen to my episode from last week, where I share my student, Radhika Lucas's story, and that's episode 606. Amyporterfield.com/606.
Now today we're chatting about number four, “I don't have enough content to put into a digital course,” which is what we're going to talk about in this episode.
And then, next week we're going to cover number five, the final myth buster, “It's too expensive. I don't have enough money to buy a course on courses or invest in creating my digital course. It’s too expensive.” Wait for that one. That one's next week. I've got a lot to share about that one.
But today, again, we are talking about this idea that, “I just don't know if I have enough content to put into a whole digital course.” So with that, I'm going to share the incredible story of two realtors turned podcasters, turned digital-course creators, Alissa Jenkins and Katy Caldwell.
Now, Alissa and Katy joined forces to create the Hustle Humbly podcast, where they share their passion for the market, real-estate tips, and how to achieve work-life balance as working moms. As they started building their podcast episode, they realized that they needed to collect email addresses so that they could nurture their audience even more. They offered up a simple lead magnet. It was an Excel spreadsheet template for realtors to track their clients. Super simple. And this is something that they had already created and were using in their own business, so it made it easy for them. And their audience went wild for it.
And this is kind of cool. During their podcast episodes, they had so much interest from their podcast audience any time they would mention this email template that they personally were using in their own businesses that their listeners started asking where they could buy more templates. That's when they began entertaining the idea of a digital-course business.
In September 2019, Katy signed up for Digital Course Academy, eager to learn the ins and outs of creating a successful digital course. Now, here's what's key. She didn't come into Digital Course Academy with a huge backlog of content. In fact, they did not have any course content to begin with. All they had were the templates that they were already using in their business. So they took their email templates, packaged them up, and offered them as a bundle along with short video lessons on how to use them. That's it. That was their course. Did you hear that? They took a bunch of email templates they were already using in their own business, they packaged them up for their students, and they offered them as a bundle along with short video lessons on how to use them. That was their course. They didn't create tons of new content. They just took what they had and their momentum, and they ran with it.
And get this. When they launched their course evergreen style—so in automation. They didn't have to show up live for a launch—when they launched their course evergreen style in March 2020, they sold fifty-nine right out of the gate at a hundred ninety-seven dollars. And actually, since then, they've increased the price to two forty-seven. I love that. I talk a lot in Digital Course Academy about how to price your course, but then also how to increase the price of your course over time and what that can look like.
So since then, they've created more courses together and even individual courses. Their email list has grown to over six thousand subscribers, all without spending a single dime on paid advertising.
Now, this is what really blows my mind. Come back to me if you're multitasking; I want you to hear this one. In just over two years, their digital courses—are you ready for this?—have brought in over a million dollars in sales, in just two short years. And they achieved all of this while being moms, podcasters, and managing their real-estate careers.
And think about that. It started with a course full of templates and short videos for a hundred ninety-seven bucks, a million dollars in sales. With this extra income, Katy doesn't have to work nights and weekends showing houses anymore, and they have the freedom to choose their clients. Amen. They even hired an assistant to help them with tasks that they don't have time for.
So just think. If they had let the fact that they didn't have a ton of content stop them from creating their first digital course, their business would not have grown in the way that it has. I think the theme that comes to mind is “let it be easy.” Let it be easy. Stop overthinking this. One of the reasons why you are not creating a digital course is that you are making it too hard and too big in your head. Let it be easy. Katy and Alissa are a great example of this.
Actually, I want you to hear from them. So let's play an audio clip.
KATY: Hi, I’m Katy.
ALISSA: And Alissa.
KATY: And we’re the hosts of the Hustle Humbly podcast.
ALISSA: We are a podcast for realtors, and we want to encourage people to grow their own way in their business.
KATY: That's right. And so Amy asked us to share our first course, which is a course about email templates.
ALISSA: Yeah.
KATY: So we started our podcast in 2019, and then we talked about templates just because that's something we use in our business. And then, what happened Alissa?
ALISSA: After we mentioned email templates in an episode, we had all of these email requests from our listeners who wanted a copy of them.
KATY: Right. So we decided we could sell these templates. And what we decided to take it a little bit more elevated and to the next level and so we could give it some background, we decided to house those templates inside of a course. So that is when Email Templates 101 was created.”
ALISSA: That's right. And we already had that content. So I know that we're supposed to be kind of helping you understand, like, well, we already use those things in our business. They were part of our real-estate business, they were part of what we were talking about to our audience, and so it was very easy for us to take those and then translate them into a course.
Do you want to walk them through what kind of happens in that course?
KATY: Sure. So the course has three modules. Module one is the what, why, and how to use the email templates, and then module two walks you through all of the buyer templates, and module three walks you through all of the seller templates so that they have an email for each part of the process of the real-estate transaction.
ALISSA: Yeah. And the nice thing about putting that in course form is we were able to, in those second and third modules, talk through each template. So instead of you buying just an item and then kind of winging it yourself, we were walking through, “This is what's happening in each of these templates, and this is where you'll want to change them, and this is how they'll help your business.” And so you basically would learn the real-estate business right along with us, doing the process and walking you through those emails.
KATY: And since our listeners are nationwide, it was important that we made each template editable for each specific market so that you could make sure that you are covered for what your market requires.
ALISSA: Yeah, absolutely.
Were you surprised by the results when people started to buy the template course?
KATY: Yes.
ALISSA: Yes. So we've had three years of selling this course. We basically kept it the same all three years. We have edited those templates as the market has changed, but it's been the driver of the business that is our podcast.
KATY: Yeah, absolutely.
ALISSA: Okay. Thanks to Amy for having us on and sharing our story. And we would love to have any of you as listeners of the Hustle Humbly podcast.
KATY: Thanks!
AMY: So if you've ever thought to yourself, “I don't have enough content to create a full-blown course,” then it's my sincere hope that you hear Alissa and Katy's story and are reminded that all you need to do is start with one thing and build upon that.
In fact, I teach students about three digital-course types, and two of these course types are perfect for a course with a smaller amount of content. I think people see my signature course, Digital Course Academy, and how I market it and all the bells and whistles, and they think they need all of that content to create a successful digital course. And that's just not the truth.
First of all, Katy and Alissa are a great example of this, but you're forgetting where I started. You're forgetting that my first successful digital course was a starter course that was ninety-seven dollars. That's the one that really blew up, and that made us a million dollars. At the time I marketed that with Lewis Howes, so we did it together. Over a million dollars for a ninety-seven-dollar course. You do not need more content. You are overthinking it, my friend.
So now it's your turn. Go ahead and think about any lead magnet that you could expand upon for a digital course, like something you've already created. Or heck, I've even heard of students taking what they've been teaching on social media and putting that into a course. That works great, too. Or maybe you've been interviewed on a podcast, or you've done a specific podcast episode that just crushed it. Can you expand on that? The point is I want you to take a real hard look at what you've already created, what you already have, and consider how you could leverage that to create a simple getting-started digital course. I have a sneaky feeling that you have more than you think.
So thank you so much for hanging out with me here today. If you love this episode and you have a friend that is thinking about starting a digital course, or they want a business and they want to kick things off with a digital course, perhaps, give them this episode. Grab a link to it. I think it could inspire a lot of people.
Okay. Until next time, keep dreaming big, keep learning, and keep taking those bold steps toward your goals. You deserve success.
I'll be back on Thursday with more entrepreneurial goodness, same time, same place. Can't wait.
