How to Make a Big Impact with Your Online Course

There are a lot of factors influencing our economy these days…are you one of them? The pandemic showed us that things can change in an instant. Entrepreneurs are stepping up to see to it that the economy remains intact. Pivots, shifting focus – whatever you want to call them – are creating greater and farther reaching impacts than ever before. Perhaps you think now isn’t the time to create an online course. And you wouldn’t be alone in your thinking. But I want to encourage you to consider that you have the ability to make an impact right now. Will you rise to the challenge? You can create a big impact. And an online course can help you do it. And I can create that online course for you.

For any number of reasons, not every business is able to make the impact it wants to make. Behind that business is a business owner wishing they had reached the mark of success they set for themselves. It’s devastating when things don’t go as planned. The good news is that you probably have the skills, knowledge, and abilities to get up and try again. This time a little wiser. But you weren’t born with those skills, knowledge, and abilities now were you? I strongly doubt you were. Not because you’re not awesome. I know you’re awesome. But because you’re human. And humans have the burden of obtaining information, trying to understand it, and trying to apply it in a way that means they’ve learned something. 

Creating an Online Course Doesn’t Have to be Overwhelming

Learning is exhausting. But that’s because we spend way too much time thinking. And not nearly enough time doing. Learning is doing. The more we do, the more energized we are to do more. The more we think, the more run down we feel. There’s no doubt it can be somewhat overwhelming to think that you need to step up and help in some way. You might be worried that offering an online course to your customers right now seems opportunistic (and not in a good way), or you might feel as though you are taking advantage of a situation that has left millions of people without work and jobs. That might feel like a lot. And that’s certainly one way to look at it.

Two Sides to Every Story

Now there are two sides to this story: how an online course can help you make an impact, that is. The first way of looking at what an online course can help you do in your business is logistical. There’s no denying that creating an online course and streamlining your service-based offerings in one package makes sense…for some businesses. Not every business is a good model for online courses remember.

Yes, creating an online course can help you do more with less. 

You can absolutely reach more people. 

You can absolutely help drive change in a big way. 

And you can absolutely ensure that your business carries on because you’re changing with the times. 

Creating Online Courses Feels Big and Scary, But When You Know What to Do, It All Comes Together Quickly

What I want to take a minute to point out here is that the whole world is scrambling to get business online right now, but this is not new. It’s old hat for me. It’s old hat for anyone who has been creating online courses for any length of time. The impact I can make right now is to help exhausted business owners like you get your online courses up and running faster and easier so you can continue making that impact. Speed is important when we’re talking about impact because entrepreneurs don’t always have the time to dedicate to change? I say that with all the love in my heart. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by business right now or even if things are wildly successful for you, you’ve always got one eye wandering, looking for what else you could be doing, right?

The other side of the story is to think about what you’re actually teaching people to do. Here’s a bit of frank talk about online learning and creating online courses: One of the things I do very well helps my clients figure out what problems they should solve within the content of their online course. I create context-rich content that ensures your customers or students see themselves in the work and walk away having moved things forward for themselves. I have systems in place for that. My systems are fuelled by the noise I hear and see from other course creators, instructional designers, facilitators, workshop leaders, and even teachers who create courses that check boxes. I want your course to make a bigger impact than just checking a box. 

What Results Are You Trying to Create with Your Online Course?

So I ask you this question: if the only result of creating your online course is that you now have an online course to sell, you’re going about this the wrong way.

Far too often, especially in businesses that are trying to hold it together and are just creating courses because that’s what everyone else is doing, I see courses fall flat. Taking what you normally do and simply “putting it online” does not a good online course make. In fact, you don’t want to create a good online course. You want to create a great online course. And the way to create a great online course is to ensure the content in your course is context-rich AND is solving the problems your customers have. If you assume you know best and you only teach what you think people need, your course won’t get wings. 

The two sides to consider when thinking about creating an online course are the logistics of it and how your course can help you reach more people coupled with the content of the course and how it will actually change lives. 

Course Ideas for Your to Continue Making an Impact Throughout the Pandemic

If you happen to work in one of the industries dramatically impacted by COVID-19 restrictions, here are some different ways of thinking about your business so that you can shift the logistics of how you do things and refocus your energy to context-rich help for your customers. 

Working in the travel industry right now? Create courses on how to plan for your next vacation, how to pack the perfect suitcase, how to save money for my next vacation, how to travel with kids.

If you only think about your business like a hotel or motel or AirBNB and don’t look beyond the impact your making right now, you’ll miss these opportunities to stay relevant. 

Here’s a business lesson you might have forgotten about: the business you’ve set out to build is not always the one you end up building. My own business has changed directions four times in as many years. You go where the opportunities are.

Every Business Can Serve Multiple Purposes

If you run an Airbnb right now and you’re suffering because of the pandemic, talk to your customers and ask them how you can help them get ready for their next vacation with you. You might be surprised by what you learn. 

If you are a hairdresser, you might think about creating courses on how to do different hairstyles at home. And no, teaching someone to do a hairstyle themselves does not mean they’ll never pay you again to do it for them. Quite the opposite actually. It makes people appreciate the skills and talents you have even more when you show them how to do things on their own. Education is empowering. 

If you run a doggy daycare, you could create courses on how to care for a new puppy, how to ready your dog for daycare, how to create raw food recipes and so much more. 

Let’s do one more. Let’s talk about restaurant owners, who are being hit the hardest during the pandemic. If you can’t make food for your customers, teach them how to make it themselves. I’d love to know how to make the bbq sauce from my favorite rib joint. I’d pay to learn how to make it. Show me how to cook the perfect omelette or not burn my waffles, I’m all ears. 

Opportunities are Everywhere – if You Change the Way You Think About Your Business

The problem is not a lack of opportunity right now, although I know it feels like that. What you have to let go of thought is the thinking that if you teach someone how to do what you do, they’ll upend you. They’ll steal all your ideas and run away and make more money than you with them. 

To that I say, do you know how lazy people are? For every one person who might, AND THAT’S A BIG MIGHT, steal your bbq sauce recipe and bottle and sell it as their own, there are a hundred more people who will just keep buying the Kraft BBQ sauce at the grocery store. But then there are the people that you can serve who would value that information and pay for it and use it at home to feed their families delicious meals. 

And here’s the last thing I’ll say about making an impact with your online course: it might not be what you thought you were going to do. This might not be an old idea or a big dream you’ve had for very long. It might be a mode of survival for you right now. But if building your business around an online course is what you want to do, I can help. 

Online Courses Can Help Many Different Kinds of Businesses

I can create an online course for you so you can get to the good stuff: making that impact in a big way. The sooner you get started, the sooner you can make that impact. 

Creating online courses just got easier. Let me show you how. Book a call with me now.