Podcasts

Episode 028: 5 Fool Proof Ways To Validate Your Course Idea

Create A Creative Business That Celebrates Your Ideal Life

Today’s episode is sponsored by my brand new roadmap – 57 Ways To Monetize Your Gifts and Create True Security For Yourself! Includes access to four bonus templates called the Creative Entrepreneurs Path to Cash and map your journey to an ideal business that celebrates the life you want to live.

Download your free roadmap today at getpaidforyourcreativity.com/57waysgift

Episode 028 Show Notes

If you missed Episode 027 of the podcast, ”Is There An Online Course Inside You Dying To Get Out?”

I suggest you hit the pause button and go have a listen now because it will help you get a handle on any mindset issues that you must get a handle on before you deep dive into the five strategies I’m going to share with you on this episode of the podcast.

Now on to the focus of today’s episode, assuming if you have at least a cursory idea for a course then you definitely want to pour yourself a cup of coffee, settle in and prepare to take a lot of notes because I’m going to reveal 5 Fool-Proof Ways To Validate Your Course Idea

1. Can you easily locate paid courses similar to the one you’re thinking about launching?
– Check out Udemy and Skillshare
– Another option is to check out courses at the local college or university level. Continuing education programs are perfect for researching ideas for courses you might be able to teach online.
– If you can consider enrolling in a local course to see how the course is being taught, make note of questions students are asking. This is also a perfect place to find people to interview #3
– Do a Google search for similar courses, what you’re looking to have appeared in the search is paid advertising

2. Published Books On Amazon
– Look for recent books 6 months or less
– Reviews and not just glowing ones, but 3’s or less (what are people complaining about?)
– Another option is Youtube Videos (I’ll deep dive more into this strategy visually in a followup episode)

3. Conduct Interviews
– Record your interview
– Let the interviewee talk more than you speak, it’s important not to guide or lead your participant, let them talk uninterrupted that’s where you’ll get your gold!
If you record the interview over the internet check out Zoom.us and/or Skype Recorder Another alternative is FreeConferenceCall.com
– Check out Facebook or Linkedin groups to find interview participants
– If you have one reach out to your own email list, groups and/or pages

4. Do a Facebook Live or Live Webclass Series
– Pick a specific piece of your possible course core topic and do Facebook Live or Live Webclass
– Write up an outline, maybe three to five bullet points and teach on these points during your Facebook Live.
– You can also break up your bullet points into a series of lives doing a small deep dive on each one.
– This is a great opportunity to get comfortable creating content, getting in front of your audience, engaging and answering questions helping you get more clarity about what they want to know more about.
– Ask participants to sign up to be on your early notification list for when you launch your paid course
– And if you really to know if people are series direct them to a payment page to make a deposit or pay for your course as a founding participant for a drastically reduced price

5. Teach For Free Then Sell
– If you feel you fully understand what your potential students really want to learn most draft up a full outline for a live online workshop, this virtual class will run about 2 to 3 hours, could be more but at least 2 to 3 hours.
– Teach your class, record it using a tool like Zoom.us (you’ll need to upgrade to the paid iteration) perhaps create some handouts or other printable support materials
– Let your participants know before, during and after your workshop if they want to keep a copy of the replay and those support materials they’ll have the option to purchase it.

Participation and collecting actual money is the best validation tool

Bonus Idea: After you’ve validated your idea with a participant-driven iteration of your course and better still if you’ve collected money explore the option to connect with an influencer that has access to your ideal audience, let them introduce you via a preview webinar or maybe podcast interview.

Participants sign up for your course pay you and split an agreed-upon percentage to the influencer. If you do this you won’t have to rely on paid advertising (at least when you’re in your validation stage) and once you know you can not only sell your course and help your students get results then you can look to expand your reach with more advanced marketing strategies like paid advertising.

Inspirational Links and Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

Episode 027: Is There An Online Course Inside You Dying To Get Out?

Episode 013: Choose! My Personal Take On Ryan Levesque’s New Book & How Creatives Can Use It To Choose The Best Idea For Them
In the show notes you’ll find a Bonus Video Tutorial: Research Your Next Profitable Idea Using Google Trends, Google, Amazon, Udemy, and Skillshare

Ask: The Counterintuitive Online Method to Discover Exactly What Your Customers Want to Buy & Create a Mass of Raving Fans & and Take Any Business to the Next Level by Ryan Levesque

How To Create A Highly Irresistible List Building Freebie That Attracts Your Perfect Customers

57 Ways To Monetize Your Gifts and Create True Security For Yourself! Includes access to four bonus templates called the Creative Entrepreneurs Path to Cash and map your journey to an ideal business that celebrates the life you want to live. (example of a mini-course)

Spread The Word!

If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, I’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. Take a screenshot of you listening on your device, post it to your Instagram Stories and tag me! @createaproneurpodcast

I’d also love if you subscribed to the podcast and left a review at http://getpaidforyourcreativity.com/itunespodcast

Lastly, I want to invite you to help contribute to this podcast by submitting a question for the Listener Question of the Week edition of Create A Proneur Podcast. All you have to do is go to http://getpaidforyourcreativity.com/QA and record a question (under 3 minutes or less) that could be featured on an upcoming episode!

Episode 027: Is There An Online Course Inside You Dying To Get Out?

By Rodney Washington

Create A Creative Business That Celebrates Your Ideal Life

Download your free roadmap today at getpaidforyourcreativity.com/57waysgift

Episode 027 Show Notes

I’m an educator at heart, I love teaching and sharing information, it comes from my mom being a teacher and going to work with her as a kid and occasionally she would take me to work with her.

Watching her in the classroom, seeing how she interacted with her students how her words and her is actions influenced them, at the time I didn’t fully appreciate how she was equally influencing me.

As a kid, I thought hanging out with my mother at work gave me the opportunity to play hooky from having to sit through my own boring classes

That early love for teaching and sharing information and resources in huge part is why I launched this podcast.

For example, I love that I can come with an idea, or become inspired by something, draft up an outline, fire up the MacBook Pro, grab the mic and start talking.

In addition over the years that love for sharing information inspired me to write and self publish a few books, launch two other podcasts in addition to this one, two virtual telesummits, and three online courses

It would suffice to say a know a little bit about taking the ideas, thoughts, and experiences living in your head, packaging it up and presenting it to the world both for free and for sale,

So… if currently thinking about or have ever thought about packaging up your experiences and expertise into a product like an online course that you use both as a giveaway to grow your email list or sell to grow your bank account this podcast episode is for you.

As a matter of fact, as I saying this I’m going to the next few episodes to this topic and hopefully secure an interview or two from other artists/creatives who launched successful online courses.

So in this episode, I want to focus on what stops most would be course creators from stepping up to the plate we all have these excuses.

Have you ever said or some iteration of the following?

“I’m not an expert”

“I don’t know enough about anything to get somebody to pay me to teach it”

“Besides… doesn’t everybody know this?”

“Why would someone give me money for information they can find for free on YouTube?”

Before I get into breaking down each of these false assumptions I want to invite you to connect with me on Instagram at @createaproneurpodcast via the DMs and share with me what’s holding you back from packaging up your passion, experiences, and expertise into an online course based on your creativity.

If you do I promise I’ll not only reply but knowing me, I’ll probably give you a few tips and maybe a handy resource or two.

Alright so let’s take each of these concerns one a time because honestly until you get past these blocks you won’t take action in any significant way to experience the success you deserve.

Inspirational Links and Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

https://www.udemy.com/

https://www.skillshare.com/

Danira Cancinos of Danis Dulce Confections – (Caramel Apple Lady)

Painter Layne Johnson Studio – click on the classes link to see his latest offerings

Update October 2019: If you have a course idea the next step is to validate it before you create it. Please don’t skip or gloss over this step because the #1 reason why most online course fails to attract paying students.

That’s why it’s super important to take your course idea through a proper validation process.

To help you I created a companion episode to walk you through the five most important steps to ensure your venture is a success. Episode 028: 5 Fool Proof Ways To Validate Your Course Idea

Spread The Word!

I’d also love if you subscribed to the podcast and left a review at http://getpaidforyourcreativity.com/itunespodcast

Episode 026: How Control Is Preventing You From Getting Everything You Want Part 2

By Rodney Washington

Create A Creative Business That Celebrates Your Ideal Life

Download your free roadmap today at getpaidforyourcreativity.com/57waysgift

Episode 026 Show Notes

I’d like to start this episode with a quote that inspired the topic of today’s show…
“When your actions contradict your words… your words don’t mean anything”

If you listened to Episode 025 of the podcast then you already know that I talked about how the need to control our outcome can actually prevent us from getting everything we want.

If you missed it, you’ll find the link here on the show notes page

So if you recall in that episode I spoke about being addicted to control, why we do it and what we’re really saying when we can’t release the need to know how things are going to work out before we take action and what I said was this…

“I can’t handle any setback if things don’t work out the way I’m hoping”

That perceived inability to handle whatever may come, be it a disappointment, loss of money or things just plain not working out as we want is greater than any possible reward we might hope to gain.

So if that’s the space you’re operating from and you’re tired of struggling to get yourself to take consistent action then keep listening because what I’m going to talk about today I believe is going to bring everything I shared in episode 025 full circle.

Now, before I dive deeper into this topic I want to take a moment and share how and I learned many of these concepts I’m going to talk about today.

If you listened to episode 25 then you may recall my talking about a man by the name of Jim Fortin.

If you don’t know who he is you soon will because I have a feeling I’m going to be referencing his teachings quite a lot in future episodes of this podcast. As a matter of fact, I hope to have him on the show but until then here is a brief introduction.

Jim is an international subconscious self-transformation and high-performance expert with over two decades of expertise in brain-based transformation and high performance

He’s also a certified Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and a certified Master Hypnotist and has a podcast called the Jim Fortin Podcast.

He just completed the launch of his free series “Be Do Have – Transform From The Inside Out” leading up to his signature program The Transformational Coaching Program.

If he runs the series again, I highly suggest getting on his waitlist.

I don’t have a direct link for the show notes but if you subscribe to his podcast (which I highly suggest you do) I’m sure he’ll tell you how to get on before his program reopens in spring 2020.

In the meantime, I’m going to reference one episode in particular that I feel will give you an even deeper perspective on the focus of today’s show.

I was looking for inspiration for this podcast episode when I stumbled on this quote

“When your actions contradict your words… your words don’t mean anything”

And I want to invite you to ponder those words for a few moments because there’s so much power in them.

At its core what this quote is saying is that my actions speak louder than words

The term self-integrity really resonated with me when I was first introduced to Jim as he was being interviewed by James Wedmore of the Mind Your Business podcast.

The link that episode is available in the show notes.

According to Fortin, when we allow ourselves to BE who we need to BE, we will DO the things we need to DO in order HAVE the things and experiences we want in life.

His concept is simple and for some, it can take a minute to wrap our minds around, some might even accuse it as sounding a bit “woo-woo” but if you sit with it for a minute the concept is really quite profound.

According to Fortin, we don’t get what we do, we get who we BE

I’ll use myself as an example to illustrate,

Before I launched this podcast I said to myself, “I’m only going to do this if I can commit to publishing at least one episode per week no matter what and since I started I’ve only missed one week.

Now, I’m going to be candid and transparent here

At the time I’m recording this I’m not getting a ton of downloads on this podcast – at least not yet

And as such it would be very easy for me to say, “Oh, it’s okay I can skip this week because I’m not getting that many listeners”

But here’s the deal, even if you listening to my words at this very moment don’t know that

I know it!

So if I’m going to have a successful podcast that eventually gets thousands, even millions of downloads I’ve got to show up.

I have a quote “Show up until they catch up” and it’s true, it would be very easy for me to blow off producing this show but I do it because I’m committed, I’m committed because I know my why and I know my why because I know who I am and what I want.

I love to teach and share ideas and I know I can best do that through the power of my voice,

I’m not a video guy (at least not yet) but until I can muster the courage I know I can speak into a microphone and hopefully share something or someone who will inspire you to go for your dreams so you can eventually be paid for your creativity.

So back to the topic of self-integrity

If I can’t keep my word to myself then what’s the point?

Because I can tell you from personal experience there’s a lot of things I’ve said I was going to do and yes, I’m putting myself on blast here – and I haven’t always followed through

I’m sharing this because perhaps as you listening to my words right now perhaps you might recognize some of me in your experience

For example, how long have you put off getting started on a creative project, or start only to hit the pause button a few days or weeks later?

How many times have you said to yourself before bed you’re going to get up at a certain time only to find yourself hitting the snooze button over and over again?

Later bounding out of bed way later than you said you were going to wake up, then spend the day beating yourself up for not doing what you said?

I know you can’t see me right now but if you could I’ve got my hand raised because this has been one of my biggest struggles getting out of bed when I say I’m going to.

At the end of the day, all of this boils down to self-integrity and keeping your word to yourself because here’s what happens when we don’t keep our word to ourselves

We slowly chip away at our self-esteem and self-worth and I’m 55 years old, soon to be 56 and I’m just now getting this and this is what I’ve been learning and becoming more aware of listening to Jim Fortin.

In episode 025 of the podcast, I shared an example of a writer wanting to finally write a book I said If you can only manage to write 100 words a day at the end of 30 days that’s 3000 words and the end of a year that’s a whopping 36,000 words!

Now I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a book to me, even if you can only manage to write for 10 minutes here and there that’s still a heck of a lot better than waiting for everything in life to be perfect before you start because trust me, perfect circumstances will never happen.

So… if you tell yourself you’re going to write just 10 minutes a day, but then perhaps you miss a day, then two days, soon it’s a week

How long do you think it’s going to be before you say to yourself, “Oh, I didn’t want to write a book anyway”

That’s an example of lack of self-integrity now can see how if you continue the pattern how it slowly chips away at your self-esteem and self-worth?

Now there are many reasons why we don’t keep our word to ourselves, even when it’s something we really want to do and Jim Fortin talks about it in great depth on EPISODE 23: “What To Do When You’re Not Motivated And Want To Be” of his podcast.

At minute 6:40 he specifically talks about how self-integrity can keep you on track so give that a listen and just before that he talks about why commitment most often needs to precede motivation.

As you recall I just spoke about commitment earlier in regards to this podcast, I said it would be very easy for me to blow off producing this show because it takes several hours for me to put it together and I’m not getting very many downloads

But I do it because I’m committed!

BEing Committed trumps motivation

And when you’re committed it’s much easier for you to be self integral

I’ll close with one final quote on the subject of commitment by William Hutchison Murray

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.

Resources Mentioned In Today’s Show:
Jim Fortin Podcast
Mind Your Business by James Wedmore (Links to a specific interview James did with Jim)
Episode 025: How Control Prevents You From Getting Everything You Want

EPISODE 4: “The Biology of Fear” by Transformation Coach Jim Fortin **Highly Recommended**

Episode Bonus 024: Key #7 from 57 Ways To Monetize Gifts

So if you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, I’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. Take a screenshot of you listening on your device, post it to your Instagram Stories and tag me! @createaproneurpodcast

I’d also love if you subscribed to the podcast and left a review at http://getpaidforyourcreativity.com/itunespodcast

Episode 025: How Control Prevents You From Getting Everything You Want

By Rodney Washington

Create A Creative Business That Celebrates Your Ideal Life

Download your free roadmap today at getpaidforyourcreativity.com/57waysgift

Episode 025 Show Notes

I’d like to start this episode with a quote…
Surrender the need to KNOW before you act

This is one of my favorite quotes because as creatives we can get caught up in overthinking and overthinking, in my opinion, will rob you of your living your best life.
So what causes overthinking?

Simple… Control

You might think as I did that if you can control what happens, including other people and ultimately circumstances that you will increase the odds that the thing you want will come to pass easier.

But that’s not really what you’re trying to control

What people addicted to control is really trying to control is our own emotions and reactions to people, circumstances, and outcomes.

In other words, what we’re really saying is

“I won’t be able to handle this if what I’m working for doesn’t happen”

So since we can’t control other people, circumstances and the need to know how things are going to turn out we absolutely can control our reactions and thusly our emotions.
Keeping that in mind ask yourself is there anything that you’ve been holding back?

Perhaps there’s a creative project you’ve been wanting to start like creating an online art course or writing a book, launching your jewelry line for fear you won’t be able to handle the results if they aren’t as you hope?

Do you find yourself procrastinating by over researching, or waiting until you get the money, or until you quit your job or get a new one, or move, or get a divorce or get married, or wait until your kids are in school or whatever reason you’re giving yourself not to start?

I challenge you to examine the stories and reasons you’re telling yourself why you have to wait and ask yourself one simple question.

“Is that true?” Or is this a stalling tactic to keep me safe?”

Because in every scenario I just mentioned there are creatives writing books with toddlers, take J. K. Rowling creator of the wildly successful Harry Potter series for example.

She was struggling to get by as a single mom before her first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was published in 1997 now she’s gone on to sell over 450 million copies of her books.

If you know that the circumstances of life will never be “perfect or ideal” before you take action then why wait?

If you can only manage to write 100 words a day of your new book at the end of 30 days that’s 3000 words and the end of a year that’s a whopping 36,000 words!

I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a book to me, even if you can only manage to write for 10 minutes here and there that’s still a heck of a lot better than waiting for everything in life to be perfect before you start because trust me, perfect circumstances will never happen.

This brings me to another one of my favorite quotes
“Do what you can with what you have right where you are”

I watched a video recently from Photographer, Founder of the Creative Live and author of the new book Creative Calling: Establish a Daily Practice, Infuse Your World with Meaning, and Succeed in Work + Life Chase Jarvis on Twitter where he shot a video of himself in the magazine section of Barnes Noble, talking about how when he was trying to get his photography career off the ground how he would scour the magazines at BN for publications he wanted to shoot for.

At the time he couldn’t afford to purchase the mags, so he would go through the publications he wanted to work with and write down the names of the photographers whose style captured his eye and who he wanted to emulate.

He would also check out the mastheads of the mags and jot the editors and creative directions contact info and he would reach out to the list of contacts he collected, this strategy that didn’t cost him anything but his time since cash was in short supply this is how he landed photography gigs.

He didn’t sit around waiting until he had everything figured out like until his website or his portfolio was perfect. He did what he could with what he had and his efforts paid for and even if they didn’t, I have every confidence he would have tried something else.

I don’t know if you saw the DVD The Secret if not, I’ll wrap this episode of this podcast with this quote featured in the film by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

Moving forward I invite you to replace control and fear with faith because in truth – it’s all any of us really have anyway.

Resources Mentioned In Today’s Show:
Chase Jarvis’s new book available on Amazon – Creative Calling: Establish a Daily Practice, Infuse Your World with Meaning, and Succeed in Work + Life

EPISODE 4: “The Biology of Fear” by Transformation Coach Jim Fortin **Highly Recommended**

Episode Bonus 024: Key #7 from 57 Ways To Monetize Gifts

I’d also love if you subscribed to the podcast and left a review at http://getpaidforyourcreativity.com/itunespodcast

Episode Bonus: Key #7 from 57 Ways To Monetize Your Gifts

By Rodney Washington

Create A Creative Business That Celebrates Your Ideal Life

Download your free roadmap today at getpaidforyourcreativity.com/57waysgift

Episode 024 Show Notes

I’m trying something new.

In the coming weeks, and possibly months of the podcast I’ve decided that I’m going to take select inspirational quotes from my free audio ebook and PDF 57 Ways to Monetize Your Gifts and expand on my and listener/reader favorites on a special bonus edition series of podcast episodes I’ll be rolling out this fall.

When I launched the show 5 months ago on April 9th my aim was and still is to make it a weekly show, I don’t know if you listened to my first episode I’ll link to it in the show notes but I used to have a another podcast I started about 5 years and abandoned it because naively I thought I could do a five day a week show! Silly me, right?

Well I quickly learned that that wasn’t feasible so unfortunately like a lot us creatives I got over-excited and then quickly realized I bit off more than I could chew

So fast forward when I launched this Podcast my expectation was to focus on consistency and less on trying to take on more than I could chew so… with that in mind I feel after 5 months it’s time to change things up a little and start some dabbling with some experiences and experiments

My first is to try to do shorter episodes like under 15 minutes from time to time

And to make those short episodes more on Mindset and creative thinking instead of strategy because I don’t about you but I’m kinda strategized out

Because here’s the deal about strategy, at least what I’ve learned. You can have the best strategy and tactics in the world but if your head isn’t in the right place then it’s like not ever knowing the strategy

So while I still plan to have teaching episodes I think it’s super important to share nuggets of wisdom and inspiration to help you my listeners who I’m so grateful to get your mind in the right place so you can not only take action but full good about the actions you’re taking so I hope that sounds good to you.

Do let me know how this is landing for you by connecting with me on Instagram the link to do that is also in the show notes

Feel free to DM on the gram and let me know if the topics I’m talking about is helping you or not. Maybe there’s another you’d like me to explore if so I’m all ears ok?

So here we go today’s inspirational quote is taken from my free audio ebook 57 Ways to monetize your gifts and you can get your copy at http://getpaidforyourcreativity.com/57waysgift

So today quote is Key #7

“Going for more is easy, actually it’s playing small that’s hard. Don’t believe me? Ask anybody dreading going to work tomorrow morning”

The inspiration for this quote came to me about 20 years ago when I was rushing to work to get to a job that to say I hated would be understatement

Fast forward having running my own business for the past 13 years as challenging as that can be and is still to this day it’s still never as frustrating as spending my days doing something that just felt so soul draining.

So… with that said if you’re at a place where maybe you’re working at a job, or a business or with clients that’s draining you and you’re holding yourself back, not going for more (and I’m not just talking about money) I’m talking about transforming what you’re doing to only doing activities that make you happy and make you grow then it’s time to recognize that and force yourself to make a change.

You’ve only got one life, if you’re not happy then you have the power to change it, remember it’s your life, it’s not, dress rehearsal and when it’s done, it’s done

Whenever you find yourself struggling, being negative, frustrated ask yourself…

“Where am I playing small?”

You’re just one action away from a life-changing opportunity

Take action and live well!

Resources Mentioned In Today’s Show:
Episode 001 : 3 Questions I Like To Ask Every Creative Entrepreneur

I’d also love if you subscribed to the podcast and left a review at http://getpaidforyourcreativity.com/itunespodcast

Episode 023: How to Use SMART Goals To Create The Life You Want

By Rodney Washington

Create A Creative Business That Celebrates Your Ideal Life

Download your free roadmap today at getpaidforyourcreativity.com/57waysgift

Episode 023 Show Notes

Believe it or not, we’ve officially entered the last quarter of 2019!

Soon, a new year will be upon us, 2020! But you don’t have to wait until the clock strikes midnight to start thinking about the things you want to accomplish so you can finish the remainder of this year with a bang and get yourself on the right path for the new year and that’s what this episode is all about!

How to Use SMART Goals To Create The Life You Want Now

It’s inevitable that at the start of any year we feel compelled to dust off our dreams and try to get into action on long-held on our goals.

The problem is usually within weeks if not days into the new year somewhere along the way we fall off the wagon and our dreams go back into the box not to be seen or thought of again until the next year.

Unfortunately, once we develop a pattern of creating resolutions but never committing to taking consistent action towards their achievement we eventually stop dreaming, if this sounds like you don’t feel bad or beat yourself up.
[Read more…] about Episode 023: How to Use SMART Goals To Create The Life You Want