Julie Chenell smiling and reading books sitting on a bed

The Course Creator Formula

Week 3! You guys LOVED the coaches formula and the service provider formula and so now I’m back with another one.

For reference, I’m working on a new idea. It’s this thought of easy-to-explain formulas for different online business models. Now, just because it’s easy to explain doesn’t mean it’s easy to do – but at least it creates a roadmap.

So today I wanted to introduce The Course* Creator Formula.

If you’re starting from scratch in the online space with no audience, it will take longer than if you have a following. But I want to start from ZERO.

*By the way, over at Funnel Gorgeous – Course Chemist – is launching February 22nd. It’s the final course in the Offer Cure, Funnel Rx trilogy! Offer Cure teaches offer, Funnel Rx teaches funnels, and Course Chemist teaches the art of instructional design. Making great courses people finish!

Here’s your checklist.

✅ Step #1 – Setup your online presence on social media. Do it under your name.

Step #2 – Get a domain and professional email address. Use Google Workspace.

Step #3 – Go through Offer Cure Workshop #1 to identify what problem you solve and for who. If you need MORE help than just that workshop, honestly get your butt in FG Society Phase 1. It helps people understand where and how to start with any kind of online info based offer. In step 3, you need to know WHAT problem you’re going to solve and for who. Course Chemist will also address this. If I were starting all over again, I’d try to sell something between $50-$150 on my first shot.

Step #4 – Now we’re going to build a lead magnet that gives incredible value and attracts that WHO that we identified in Step 3. Once that lead magnet and funnel are built, you’re going to put that link EVERYWHERE and as a CTA for whenever you’re creating content. This is the foundation of building your audience. Use the FG Funnels free lead magnet funnel and you can buy a lead magnet template from our store.

Step #5 – Time to publish. This is the most grueling step. It can be fast tracked with ads. You need to start showing the F up. Pick your platform, deliver content. The longer and better you are at this step, the bigger your audience will be. You need a minimum of 500 people on your email list. More is better. Here’s where people mess up. They have no idea how to publish content that is valuable and shareable. They just either talk TOO much about themselves, or some sliver of the niche their in, or they don’t publish enough. Both paid and organic efforts work well here. You can do this in 1 week or 1 year depending on how much time, effort, money. If you want to be a course creator, this is the step you have to dial in.*

**This is the HARDEST and MOST IMPORTANT step of them all. It’s the one people resist most. Do not skip this step.

Step #6 – Next, it’s time to actually build the SALES assets for the course. It all starts with the copy. Write the copy using either Offer Cure workshop #2 and/or FG Society Phase 2. Get a logo done for your offer as well so by the end of this step you have copy/logo and the assets you need. Turn your intangible idea into a tangible one through copy + logo/graphics.

Step #7 – Set a date for your launch and plan out your main ideas, hooks, angles that you will share with your audience leading up to the launch. We call it a pressure launch because it’s important to build buzz and anticipation prior to showing it to the world!

Step #8 – Build the funnel. Take your copy/design and get it all set up with your members area. Yes, use FG Funnels :). In the members area, set up a welcome letter/video with information on the calendar dates of when the course material will be available. Yes, you will presell so we fill the members area with something for them since the content won’t all be there.

Step #9 – Do the launch. Keep the cart open for 5 days and then close it. Use bonuses, early bird, and plot twist. Don’t lose your lunch. Make sure your expectations are set from the beginning. Don’t underestimate how hard it is to sell. Congratulate all the wins, even that you accomplished it! Once the launch is over, you will teach and build your content, aiming to get as much success for your students as possible since it will be the bedrock for your testimonials. Lots of help in Launch Gorgeous (when we run it) as well as FG Society Phase 1 for all this.

Step #10 – Plan to either re-launch it, or turn it into an evergreen offer (one that’s open all the time). If it’s higher priced, a webinar funnel. If it’s lower priced, turn it into an SLO that can be driven with ads or sold cold without a launch or any pressure.

This can be done in 12 weeks. It’s hard. In fact that’s why we do Launch Gorgeous for our students since it’s really difficult. Most people will take longer than 12 weeks because of step 5. You could be stuck at step 5 for quite some time if you’re trying to build a big audience. Like Larry for example. He’s in DI and he was at Step 5 for a few years. By the time he got to me, we did steps 3, 6-10 and when he launched he made $1M dollars 🤣. That’s the power of Step 5. Your launch success is determined by how well you step 5. He spent so much time on Step 5, the money was there and waiting for when he launched.

What to Expect: With 500 qualified followers from an excellent lead magnet and a really solid $150 offer, assuming you show up and publish well, you can expect between 20 – 50 students in your first launch. $3000 – $7500. If I were your mentor, I’d be high-fiving you on this!


I struggled a bit with this formula because this is ONE type of course creator formula, and unlike the previous two I did which were more straightforward, I actually have SEVERAL course creator formulas that I could have written.

One modification would be if you want to do a low ticket offer with ads and no list. You could conveniently skip step 5 and just build an SLO (which is actually 9 products in one funnel). The downside is that you HAVE to build everything ahead of time (Course Chemist a must!) and so you’re risking that it’ll work and doing all that front end work.

A second modification would be if you wanted to do a live set-in-time deep dive paid workshop. You could technically skip step 5 and just do ads as well to a workshop page and then teach it live. You’re going to get very very small numbers to start, but some people like this.

A third modification would be to do a FREE live weekly webinar where you run ads each week and micro sell to a tiny audience and see how many people you get each week to say yes to your program. The program has to be built in this case. So while you can skip step 5, you have to prepare a webinar, build the content, and do a live event once a week.

As you can see, there are a lot of nuances here that trip people up, which is why support on this formula is so critical.

This formula gets you through ONE offer and one launch. The reality is that in order to build an infoproduct company you need more than just one offer. You need a minimum of three (in my opinion). Again, building out a value ladder is incredibly important but it does start with these first steps.


Also? Step 5 never stops. It’s the never ending step you keep doing until you decide to retire. You’re welcome.

 

Julie Chenell on Longwater Farm with a baby goat

What To Do With The Most Overhyped Holiday Of The Year

New Year’s Eve is the classic overhyped under-delivered holiday of the year.

  • Maybe you’re celebrating in a new location or with new people and there’s anticipation heading into tonight that it will feel different
  • Maybe you’re sure of your resolutions this time and are looking forward to January 1st
  • Maybe you took a nap and are determined to make it to midnight because somehow that is just good luck
  • Maybe you’ve given up expecting anything out of NYE and just go to bed and treat it like any other day

We all know you don’t need a new calendar year to change your life. You can do that on a Tuesday afternoon at 3:23pm in March…but there’s something about a new year that makes us feel like…okay, this next year…is going to feel different.

And that’s the point: We all just want to feel something different and new.

We want to feel more than what normal day to day life brings us.

  • Boredom
  • Frustration
  • Stuck-ness
  • Anxiety
  • Pain
  • Sadness
  • Anger

The New Year is the hope that we can feel anew:

  • Excitement
  • Satisfaction
  • Freedom
  • Peace
  • Relief
  • Happiness
  • Acceptance

The truth is that for most people, January 1st won’t magically switch your emotions or your circumstances in any significant way. Especially after a night of food, drinking, and little sleep.

But before you bounce from this hella depressing analysis of the holiday, I have REALLY good fucking news.

Every single one of the emotions and feelings we crave…IS available to us. Before the ball drops even. In fact, you could tap into any one of those feelings in the next 30 seconds if you want.

Because the experience of life happens in our mind, heart, and soul. It’s an inside job.

What all the great spiritual teachers of the ages have learned is that we are the true masters of our own destiny and experience by adjusting how we perceive the world and what we choose to believe about ourselves and others.

By adjusting our expectations AND beliefs, we can open up new doors of possibility that were previously closed.

It’s all in the mind.

The way to hack your emotions and access that sense of wellbeing that we all crave? Is to commit to understanding how your expectations and beliefs shape literally every aspect of your life.

Let this year – 2023 – be the year….

  1. That you stop putting obstacles in your own way
  2. That you stop hanging out with ANYONE who makes you feel small and unloved and unimportant
  3. That you stop waiting for the perfect time or the perfect scenario in which to change your life
  4. That you get back in the driver’s seat of your heart and remember that this life is so short, no one will remember you 100 years from now, and you get to decide what you’re going to let inspire you or take you down

Waiting for the ball to drop, for the fireworks to go off, for the feeling of happiness to settle in after a few drinks is fine and very very human.

But it often leads to disappointment when we expect some external factor to magically make us feel or see something different.

You are the key holder to EVERYTHING you desire and love and want. The faster you access that power, and put yourself in environments where that’s encouraged, the better off you will be.

My advice is to start today, not tomorrow. And…

  1. Check the company you keep. Carefully. The people who let in your life will be the single greatest source of joy and/or pain.
  2. Take your beliefs to the chopping block and make sure they are worth keeping.
  3. Go to war with shame and keep it away from your household.
  4. Let yourself FEEL things – both good and bad.
  5. Take risks.

And a last note for those who believe in God (or want to) – and who feel like they consistently fall short of who they think they should be…

If we all can see and experience astounding displays of unconditional love in the world between broken and imperfect people, how much more love and grace must there be in the Creator of the universe?

Find a purpose in your life that isn’t just about keeping some judgmental human man made version of God in your head happy and pleased with you.

How would you live differently and experience life if you truly believed that NOTHING you do can separate you from the love of God?

Happy New Year everyone!

Xx

Julie Chenell Sitting at a desk writing in a notebook

10 Business & Life Tips To Take Into 2023

It was impossible for me to accurately summarize 2022 with a takeaway or a recap of all the things that happened since it was a banner year for crisis and problems. However, there are things I’d love to remember and gift to anyone who is looking for inspiration for 2023. So here are the things I’m taking with me!


#1 Ride the wave of disenchantment

There comes a time in a business where you feel utterly disenchanted with your offers, your customer, and what you’ve built. Disenchantment is part of the journey.

People freak out when it hits.

It’s normal and will happen, especially if you’re building something that’s meant to last.

You can even see this on long running TV series.

There’s always that season or two that feels lame and under done. But then they push through and the remaining seasons come back strong and ends with a bang.

Business is the same.


#2 What to do when you can’t hear your inner voice

First, stop thinking about it. Start feeling it in your body. I know… weird. But notice the sensation in your body when you think about the situation or idea. Do you get butterflies? Racing heart? Do you feel calm? Do your muscles relax?

Two, know what you need. Like a video game avatar, you have to know what stamina and strength you actually possess (and want to use up).

Three, acknowledge your fear bias. We are am drawn to that which is comfortable and avoid risk. And ask yourself what would you do if you weren’t afraid and could not fail?

Four, how much dysfunctional behavior are you doing (or dysfunctional beliefs) are you holding onto in order to exist in the current setup?

Five, are you being honest?

Six, have you acknowledged that your uncertainty is a choice in and of itself and if you search your soul, your dreams, or your quiet thoughts, are you ignoring a still small voice inside of you?

Try these six exercises the next time you can’t hear your own inner voice, and see what comes up. For me? Every time it’s paid off.


#3 Be warned… Indecision is addictive

Hard truth incoming: The habit of indecision is addictive.

I know this because as a pretty decisive person normally, I’ve found my brain stuck in several high stakes indecision loops during points of crisis and struggle in my life. And once out of it, the next time it happens, the well worn path in my brain says, “Oh good. Let’s do the indecision cycle forever!” and it’s even harder to break the next time.

You can read the full post here, but here is the cycle that the brain goes through.

How do you break out of the indecision loop?

  1. Observe the cycle
  2. Trust your acquiring information phase
  3. Remind yourself of the thief of indecision
  4. Steel yourself for your survival response and don’t listen to it

The first step is to observe yourself doing it. Once you see the behavior in action, you can actually move it from a subconscious pattern to a conscious choice you can push against.

The second step is to trust your acquiring information phase. For most decisions, whatever you learn within a few weeks or a month of hard core research, conversations, journaling, therapy, counsel, interviews, etc. is enough. Tiny little bits of new info aren’t going to change your outcome.

It’s also important to recognize that when you’re taking steps into an unknown territory, a place that requires you to start building new beliefs, there’s a level of risk that’s needed. Acquiring information may include examining your belief systems and making way for something new. Pick good mentors and critical thinkers to help you here because growth is messy.

The third step is to tell yourself that indecision is a thief, and carries far worse consequences over time than even a bad decision. Because even in a bad decision, there’s so much to learn and grow from.

The last step? Is to steel yourself for the survival response when it comes, and push through. Expect it. Don’t let it tell you you’re going to die if you choose. You will not.

I speak on this topic with deep experience in making irreversible, emotionally charged, difficult decisions that go against what is ingrained in me beliefs wise as a child.


#4 You need diverse voices in your life if you want to grow

Do you know that pine trees grow better in an unmanaged diverse forest than in a field where it’s only pine trees that are planted?

The diversity of the root systems, the fungal network that connects them underground… the pines are more likely to survive, thrive, and produce more wood and seed when they are among lots of different trees in a forest.

Next time you wonder why things aren’t going well…. Why you’re struggling to produce at the level you know you’re capable of, when you feel dead and exhausted and burned out…Get out of the field.

Get away from the monoculture you’re in.Go into the forest and live among the messy beautiful diverse species of plants and trees… and grow.


#5 No matter how loud you think you are, chances are you’re not loud enough

Ever notice on Instagram that breakout artists (singers/songwriters trying to build an audience)… they write a song and they do a reel clip of that song.

And then… another reel clip…of the same song.And then… another.

And another. Same song every time.

Maybe the lyric clip is slightly different. Maybe they are sitting behind the steering wheel of their car vs. walking on the sidewalk, but it’s the same information.

Next time you tell me you’ve run out of topics to talk about, or you are tired of the same thing…

Think about the breakout artists. Who are posting the same song day after day, hoping one of their videos catches.

Course creators and online service providers, you should NEVER run out of content because repeating content is totally fine.No one is paying as close attention to you as you are to you.


#6 Fire is designed to burn up that which isn’t supposed to last

When the heat rages and you’re in the middle of the flames, everything (in your life, business, world) that was a distraction, a weight on your mind and heart, things that were not built on your conviction but on reactions and bad habits and people pleasing…beliefs that were propped up by lies or unquestioned assumptions…It will all burn up.

And what will be left… is what’s worth holding onto.

The fire is meant to help you.

It’s meant to clear the path so you can become who you’re truly meant to be. When you avoid the heat, when you shy away from the things that strike a match to your world…you never get the opportunity to watch all your false ideas and mindset trash and assumptions that are holding you back…turn to ash.


#7 There are really only 5 things you need to make passive income through digital products

If you want to make $500/$1000 a day passively selling digital products (not courses, coaching, etc.) but digital products like swipe files, documents, templates, etc…. here are the five things you need to make sure your product does if you really want to hit that mark with JUST those products (I’m not talking upsells and lifetime value).

1. You need an EASY as hell domain. Like, it’ll fall right out of my mouth level. Probably a domain that’s going to cost you more than $10. It HAS to be a .com. It might cost you hundreds to thousands of dollars to grab.

2. You need a product that people NEED. Not, “aw yea nice to have.” No. Need. Like, I NEED an email script if I’m doing cold pitching. I literally can’t pitch without a good script. vs some checklist for cold pitching (or an SOP) which is okay, fine. That’s nice. But I can technically do the project without it. Keep in mind it’s not that the checklist is bad, and it probably could and would sell, but if we want to accomplish the goal above, you’ve gotta make something people NEED.

3. It has to be a product that dramatically shortcuts time FOR your customer, but also (and here’s what people miss), also dramatically shortcuts time for possible collabs and affiliates. I’m selling a coaching program on sales, I don’t want to have to write email scripts that I KNOW work. Takes me time. I have to test it, try it, hope it works, then build it and sell it in my program. But if you do all that work for me, I just might want to buy a license for it. Or affiliate for it.

4. It has to be a product that you can write about, video about, market about, and be something that gets in peoples’ heads easily. Not tricky to explain. Not vague. Not general. Obvious. Clear. Duh. People will search for it on Google or YouTube, talk about it and ask for recommendations in groups, and your option will pop out of peoples’ mouths and out of search.

5. It has to be priced in such a way that the product itself would cost considerably more to make/build on my own then if I just fork over some cash to give to you the seller. Cheap and inexpensive digital products are GREAT tripwires to lead to bigger products, but if you want to make $500/$1000 a day on just a few digital products, you need to make something that would cost hundreds to thousands to build on its own, but you’re selling for $100-$300.

You nail all five and you’ve got something.


#8 How to know when to pivot and when to give up

If you’re the kind of person who struggles with letting go, you’ll probably hold on longer than you should.

If you’re the kind of person who abandons projects quickly and gets distracted, you’ll probably not give your stuff the attention it needs.

Look at your character pattern throughout your life.

Are you a stubborn I’m holding onto this come hell or high water? Learn to let go.

Are you easily distracted, “Here comes a new project that doesn’t force me to face my feelings about what isn’t going well?” You might need to learn how to fight for something when it isn’t always fun.

Other criteria to use…

1. Have you looked at the data? Are you making a decision based on benchmarks or mismanaged expectations? Use data.

2. Will the longterm payoff of what you’re building/selling be worth the short term grind? Everything worthwhile is uphill all the way. Sometimes it’s not going to feel good. Hold on when the longterm potential is worth it.

3. Have you tried optimizing your offer/business multiple times and not seen the results you want?

Assuming the opportunity and container are big enough for the $$ you want, have you let go of what “you” think it should look like, and been willing to experiment with other ideas that are outside the box? Don’t be afraid to experiment or take risks before you give up completely.


#9 Fear and imposter syndrome are triggered by attachment

Here’s how:

You start a project and get really excited about it. You pour time and energy into it, and as it gets closer, you get more and more nervous.

All these crazy feelings come up, you start to overthink and get in your head. What if you’re not good enough? What if no one buys?

The reason? You are attached to the outcome. You are attached to the vision you see in your head. And the fear that it won’t come to pass or be taken away from you, triggers your brain to start to find reasons why it might not work so you can combat them.

Your attachment to the project triggers this and it’s why so many people feel these feelings as they get closer to launch. It works the same in life.

  • Ever find the house of your dreams and get so scared the closer it gets to closing because you’re afraid something will fall through?The attachment creates the fear. You can see it and taste it, but it’s not yours yet.
  • Ever find the partner of your dreams, and find yourself falling in love and then the crippling fear or “not good enoughness” comes in because your brain – in anticipation of losing it – tries to combat it with overthinking.

This is how Imposter syndrome rears its ugly head the closer and more deeply attached you are to an outcome or dream you have in your head.

The solution is NOT to never get attached.

The solution is not to scrap your project and start over.

You will always come back around to the same mountain the closer you get to the moment of truth.

You are not weird.

It’s entirely normal.


#10 There will always be more resistance to what is unknown than what is known

If you’re waiting to feel 100% ready to step into something that doesn’t have any assurances, any promised destination, any certain outcome…

You’re going to wait a long time.

Because what is unknown will always be harder to grasp than what is comfortable and familiar.

The trick is to force yourself to take steps into the unknown based on an underlying decision vs. the emotional whim of the moment.

Don’t wait for the feeling of certainty.

It’s the hardest thing you’ll ever do (at least I think so).

Stepping into something that isn’t defined yet, and leaving behind the comfortable familiar habits that kept you stuck in beliefs of the present that might have worked for awhile, but don’t anymore.


Please let me know which one spoke to you most, and I look forward to learning and growing with you in 2023!

Julie Chenell Sitting at a desk writing in a notebook

The Addiction of Indecision

“More is lost by indecision than wrong decision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity. It will steal you blind.” – Marcus Julius Cicero

Hard truth incoming… the habit of indecision is addictive.

I know this because as a pretty decisive person normally, I’ve found my brain stuck in several high stakes indecision loops during points of crisis and struggle in my life. And once out of it, the next time it happens, the well worn path in my brain says, “Oh good. Let’s do the indecision cycle forever!” and it’s even harder to break the next time.

The hope is that by writing this all out, it will help you do a few things:

  1. See the indecision cycle
  2. Understand why your brain is addicted to it
  3. Break it so it doesn’t become a habit

Let’s use a relatively benign example to illustrate the indecision cycle. Please understand that the more emotional attachment there is to a decision, the worse it’ll be.

Pretend you’ve been given $100,000 that has to be spent in one shot. You’re faced with the following choice:

  • Put it into your friend’s real estate fund and receive $1000 a month until they sell 7 years later at a profit
  • Take the money and start a restaurant on the busiest corner of your hometown

Here’s how the indecision cycle works.

First, you probably lay out the pros and cons. Maybe you talk to friends, family, some trusted money advisors. You do some research. Interview people who’ve done both.

This is the acquiring information phase of the indecision cycle.

It might take a few hours to a few weeks, and some decisions might even take a month or two. But in 95% of cases, the acquiring information phase moves to… tentative conclusion.

The tentative conclusion is your brains way of moving out from the middle and starting to “imagine” one choice over the other. For our example, let’s say after all that research, you’ve tentatively concluded that you’d rather invest the money than open a restaurant.

The next phase is activated imagination.

Typically someone will imagine themselves moving towards action before they actually do it. So in this case, you start to imagine filling out the paperwork for the investment. You maybe imagine going to the bank to wire the money.

As your imagination starts to activate the idea of this conclusion, emotions are going to come to the surface. This is the survival response phase.

In an indecision cycle, the emotions that rise up are usually fear based. Feelings like:

  1. Worry
  2. Fear
  3. Panic
  4. Freeze response
  5. Exhaustion

This is a hallmark of an indecision cycle because if you started imagining your conclusion and felt a confirmation of emotion (excitement for example), you’d not get stuck in indecision. You’d keep moving. So these emotions are your cue that you’re entering this cycle.

For most people, these negative emotions signal “STOP! You’re making the wrong decision!” It is survival brain in action. So then you go to the phase pressure reduction.

Your brain wants to reduce the pressure of feeling that emotion. So you stop imagining the choice. You head back to neutral. You’re rewarded with feelings like relief. This is received as pleasure in the brain. Safety. Phew. You didn’t jump off that cliff.

The next thing that happens? You return to acquiring information. Here you’re convinced that there is something you missed during the first acquiring information phase and it’s time to go back through it again. Because you wrongly assume that as long as you have the right information, you’ll not feel those emotions next time.

This time you may try to go through the cycle with the other choice – you open a restaurant. But the same thing happens. Around and around the circle you go, each time, your brain is rewarding you for returning to neutral. To safety.

That’s because our brain’s job is to keep us alive, and anything that threatens our sense of safety will be seen as enemy #1.

It explains how people appear to stay in the acquiring information phase forever, when in fact they are looping around.

And the worst is when you actually do find a little bit of new information. This confirms that yes, it was a good idea you kept going round and round or you would have missed that tidbit.

You are being rewarded for going in circles. 

Your brain likes neutral because you get the dopamine high of the possibility of BOTH options without any of the risk or pain or sacrifice associated with making choice. There is some grief to saying goodbye to one choice and we avoid grief.

In the example I used of the $100k, there’s not a lot of high stakes happening.

  • It isn’t a fully irreversible decision (like the decision to have a baby).
  • It probably isn’t an emotionally charged decision (like the decision to get a divorce).
  • It doesn’t necessarily tap into childhood beliefs (religious beliefs for example).

If you add irreversibility, emotional charge, and childhood beliefs, those are three things that are going to compound the survival response and keep you stuck longer. It’ll make the survival response more intense.

So how do you break out of the indecision loop?

  1. Observe the cycle
  2. Trust your acquiring information phase
  3. Remind yourself of the thief of indecision
  4. Steel yourself for your survival response and don’t listen to it

The first step is to observe yourself doing it. Once you see the behavior in action, you can actually move it from a subconscious pattern to a conscious choice you can push against.

The second step is to trust your acquiring information phase. For most decisions, whatever you learn within a few weeks or a month of hard core research, conversations, journaling, therapy, counsel, interviews, etc. is enough. Tiny little bits of new info aren’t going to change your outcome.

It’s also important to recognize that when you’re taking steps into an unknown territory, a place that requires you to start building new beliefs, there’s a level of risk that’s needed. Acquiring information may include examining your belief systems and making way for something new. Pick good mentors and critical thinkers to help you here because growth is messy.

The third step is to tell yourself that indecision is a thief, and carries far worse consequences over time than even a bad decision. Because even in a bad decision, there’s so much to learn and grow from.

The last step? Is to steel yourself for the survival response when it comes, and push through. Expect it. Don’t let it tell you you’re going to die if you choose. You will not.

I speak on this topic with deep experience in making irreversible, emotionally charged, difficult decisions that go against what is ingrained in me beliefs wise as a child.

It’s tough for us to do this work. To acknowledge the truth of what’s really going on inside of us.

I’ve done it multiple times, and each time… my biggest fear was that I would regret my decision and not be able to undo it. I feared the feeling of regret so much, I stayed stuck in the indecision cycle for a long time…and at the cost of my mental and physical  health.

On the other side of these decisions, I can tell you…

  • I didn’t regret it.
  • I trusted myself.

And it made way for me to understand and learn in ways that weren’t possible otherwise.

 

 

 

 

Julie Chenell Sitting at a desk writing in a notebook

How To Know When You’re Teaching Too Much In A Webinar Or Challenge…And What To Do About It

Challenges and webinars are two of the most effective ways to build buzz and anticipation in a launch.

But before you put in all the hard work to build one, let’s look at the number one problem marketers face when creating this type of content.

They teach too much.

The issue of course is fueled by an over reaction to a trend to NOT TEACH AT ALL, which was commonplace a few years ago (and you can find lots of pockets of people still bloating their content with a lot of nonsense and fluff).

So in an attempt to not be that way, we’ve seen a rise of INCREDIBLY chalked- full-with-juicy-goodness webinars and challenges that give away all kinds of knowledge and strategy and tactics, and leave the participant feeling like they don’t need the program at all.

Where’s the middle ground? You want your lead to be impressed, happy they came and attended, and most importantly, you want them to buy your offer.

Finding the right balance isn’t easy, and if you’re hearing things like:

  • Omg this was amazing and I can’t wait to implement it all
  • This was as good as a paid course…
  • I don’t even need your [program name] because of how much I learned!

These are signs you’re teaching too much in your free content, and not positioning your lead to buy.

Let’s take a look at a typical 5 day challenge setup.

For the purposes of this example, we’re going to pretend we are a book coach. We teach people how to write books, launch them, sell them, etc.

Our product is a $2000 program that takes a student through the book writing process in 60 days, and includes help with the outline and the writing process.

Before you build a challenge that leads into this offer, the creator must ask themselves an important question:

“What problem must my student feel deeply in order to be motivated to buy my offer?”

In this example, my student might buy my program if:

  • They have a ton of ideas and no idea where to start or which one to go with
  • They have a half written draft they hate and are ready to throw away
  • They’ve gotten an outline done but are masters at procrastination and haven’t written anything yet

In each of these scenarios, I can see the 2 main problems clearly…the problem of lack of clarity and lack of direction. 

The more foggy and directionless they feel, the more pain they are in during the writing process, the more effort and resources they will spend to get themselves out of that spot.

But it doesn’t stop there, because in order to alleviate the pain, they could simply…quit.

So what other problem must they be acutely aware of in order to take action?

The consequences of NOT writing a book at all.

Sometimes it’s difficult to feel a consequence like this because it requires the person to understand opportunity cost.

Opportunity cost is about the loss of potential gain from OTHER alternatives when one alternative is being chosen. In this case, the choice to quit writing removes them from feeling the gain of what sticking it out and publishing would produce.

Let’s ideate for a minute. What are the benefits to writing a book?

  • You get asked on more podcasts and stages leading to a bigger audience
  • You get instant credibility leading to more opportunities
  • You get new leads from people who’ve found and read your book leading to more sales
  • You get new sales & revenue from selling the book which gives you more revenue
  • You make more connections with experts you might have interviewed for the book and that can lead to potential collaborations
  • You get increased confidence in yourself as an expert in your field, which leads to taking bigger risks

After this exercise, we’ve got three primary problems our student MUST feel urgently and deeply in order to take action.

  1. Lack of clarity (what to write)
  2. Lack of direction (how to write it and get it done)
  3. The consequence of giving up (many pain points there)

You could keep going with this and identify more and more problems if you wish. It’s never a bad exercise to really get intimately acquainted with the pain of your customer.

Now it’s time to build a challenge for the aspiring writer. If we pause here for a moment and pretend we didn’t do this problem exercise, a creator might put together a challenge like the following:

  • Day 1: How to pick your best book idea
  • Day 2: Creating your outline
  • Day 3: Getting in the habit of writing
  • Day 4: What to do when you get stuck
  • Day 5: Pitch (Inside our Writing Your Book in 60 Days Program)

The creator would probably struggle a bit trying to figure out what to teach for free and what to keep “secret” for the course.

The creator might settle on a big picture overview and outline and leave out a bunch of details.

Or the creator might teach snippets from the course and try to “over-deliver” in order to get the potential student excited to see more.

Does this sound familiar? It’s so incredibly common. Don’t feel bad if this has happened to you.

Another way creators build challenges is to focus on the stuff the student needs to do BEFORE writing. So a challenge might look like this:

  • Day 1: What are you an expert in?
  • Day 2: The book idea incubator
  • Day 3: Testing your book idea
  • Day 4: Building the outline
  • Day 5: Pitch (Inside our Writing Your Book in 60 Days Program)

In this example, it’s a bit easier (and more effective) because even if you “give away the farm” you will have solved one problem…in this case the idea of what to write, but you will not have solved AT ALL the idea of how to write it.

But is this really the best we’ve got for our challenge?

Let’s go back to the problems we unearthed in our exercise above. Most creators undervalue their diagnostic skills.

If you have a pain in your stomach and you go straight to a surgeon, that surgeon will open you up and look around, try to figure out the problem, and then fix it? No! Of course not.

Instead, you will be diagnosed with a specific problem – in this example – appendicitis. That piece of information is CRITICAL to both you and the surgeon.

The same goes for our student.

When we are able to accurately diagnose their problem, and help them SEE the problem accurately, then we don’t have to hardly sell at all, because they will be convinced themselves.

Diagnostic teaching uses a lot of stories, tangible before/after examples, assessments and reflections.

Let’s build a challenge that’s more diagnostic than prescriptive. We can do this by building a challenge AROUND the problems. Assign a problem to each day.

  • Day 1: I want the student to FEEL and understand the consequence of not writing a book.
  • Day 2: I want the student to FEEL and understand they are lacking clarity
  • Day 3: I want the student to FEEL and understand they are lacking direction

Starting with Day 1, we could do a story based teaching about the benefits of writing a book. We could talk about the scarcity of time, about resistance to doing hard things, about imposter syndrome and fear.

As a tangible activity, you could have them write their fears and overcome them, write out their goals and vision, create an accountability plan, etc.

On Day 2, we want them to walk away realizing that clarity makes EVERYTHING easier. Use an example of an author who was unclear vs. one who was clear. Showcase the two outlines side by side. Examples and stories create more aha! moments than bullet points. They should be able to quickly see how one outline makes SO MUCH more sense than the other.

As a tangible activity, give a clarity assessment worksheet to help them rank how clear or unclear they are on their topic. The goal is for them to recognize where they are lacking that clarity and have an aha! that this is why they haven’t taken action yet.

On Day 3, it’s time to help them feel the pain of lack of direction. Set up the challenge about the tale of three authors. Maybe one hasn’t started at all, one is halfway through and blocked, and one is finished and hates it and it’s collecting dust in Google drive. In this way, they can start to identify who they are in this story.

You could show what happens to books that don’t have direction vs. ones that do. Compare and contrast units sold on directionless books vs. bestsellers.

As a tangible activity, do a “how I will know my book has direction” reflection. Ask them what their expectations are around the book writing process.

Now you still have two days left. You could go back to the problem exercise and find another one, or you could start to identify the path forward (which leads right into the sale).

You could make Days 4 + 5 both more sales pitch days as you use the course program as the roadmap or guide to solving these pressing issues.

The final challenge outline might look like this:

  • Day 1: Your Book Publishing Dream
  • Day 2: Getting Crystal Clear On Your Perfect Book Idea
  • Day 3: Three Roadblocks Every Author Faces
  • Day 4: Setting Your Writing Process Up For Success
    (this will start to introduce the program)
  • Day 5: Get Your Book Done In 60 Days
    (Inside our Writing Your Book in 60 Days Program- full pitch)

We’ve now done this process with a challenge, but it works exactly the same for a webinar. The steps are simple to say, but take a bit more work to do.

  1. Identify the problems your potential customer faces
  2. Identify what they need to FEEL in order to take action
  3. Teach from a diagnostic perspective vs. prescriptive (save that for your paid program)

You can use this framework for other types of content too. Emails, social media content, presentations, podcasts, and more.

Try it out next time and resist the fear that diagnosing a problem isn’t enough “teaching”.

Ask the guy who got the appendicitis diagnosis before surgery. He’d agree.

xx Julie

P.S. I do these challenge/webinar hotseats with all my 1:1 clients. If you’re making $100k or more a year and would like to work with me personally, you can apply at digitalinsidersmastermind.com

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