How are you doing?

I’m excited to regularly be back in your inbox again. 😊

My wife, Dana, is on the road to recovery from surgery…

…and we’re enjoying the beginnings of 2021 as a family and as a business.

Speaking of which, if you didn’t know, we’re back to regular podcasting. We’ve moved from livestreams on the Video Creators Channel to a completely audio/podcast style format. You can listen to those episodes here.

Since being back, I got the chance to sit down with my friend, Wade Alters, who has been instrumental in my sales process and helping me with everything it takes to launch and release an online course in your business.

He shared the steps with me that he would take me through to help us hit 6-figures whenever we launched a course together. Here’s what he had to say.

  1. Figure out what your audience ACTUALLY wants. Both Wade and I see this all the time with our clients — they work their tails off to create a product that no one actually wants. This is why we both recommend surveying your audience to hear from THEIR own mouths what they want, what their pain points are, and what would solve their problem. I’m usually always a little surprised by the results of the surveys we send out and it helps me to understand my audience better. Not sure what to ask? My team created a free guide “From Product to Profit” that walks you through how to set up this survey and what to ask here.
  2. Make your audience aware of what you’re working on. Having a background in ministry, I had a hard time selling. I didn’t want to come across as “that sleazy sales guy”. So, the first course I made TANKED because I didn’t tell anyone about it until it was out. Wade shared that the #1 reason people don’t purchase courses (when surveyed) is that they didn’t know about it. Getting your product in front of your audience (even before it’s ready) will keep them interested, wanting to know more, and if it’s something that would solve their problem, they’re usually most likely going to buy once it’s live!
  3. Create scarcity. How can you incentivize your audience to buy your course now vs. them saying they will but never actually purchasing your course? If you’re like me, you’ll want to do this in a way that is authentic and ethical. These can look like bonuses, incentives, live features, etc. for your audience buying now rather than later.
  4. Positioning for transformation. One of my favorite online courses I’ve ever purchased is a woodworking course from Steve Ramsey. I didn’t necessarily care about learning the 12 different woodworking projects he teaches in the course, but instead I wanted to become a better woodworker. The most powerful courses that people continue to come back for are not full of “hacks, tips, and tricks”, but that transform us because that’s at the heart of what we want.​

There’s obviously a LOT more that comes with launching a successful online course, but these are a few of the common mistakes Wade sees a lot and some things we worked through together.

I’m so glad we did!

What is your biggest struggle to create or sell an online product? Let me know in a reply!

And if you want to listen to that full podcast episode, click here.

Thanks for reading!

Keep changing lives,

Tim

P.S. If you’ve been wanting to turn your YouTube channel into a business, but don’t know where to start, my team and I created this FREE guide for you called Product to Profit. Download it here to turn your channel into a business!