Caitlin Bacher:
Episode 73: 5 Giant Mistakes Every Course Creator Needs to Quit Making.
There are 5 giant mistakes that every course creator needs to quit making.
Yes, even you and me, because after I wrote this podcast, I realized that I was still making some of them.
It can be incredibly frustrating when you think you’re doing everything you’re supposed to be doing, but you’re not getting the desired result.
You may start to think, “Is everyone just sick of me? Will I never sell another course as long as I live? Should I just give up and close everything down tomorrow?”
If any of those thoughts have run through your head in the last week, then today’s episode is going to be very helpful because I’ve identified 5 of the major mistakes that course creators make without even knowing it, myself included.
So let’s get started.
My name is Caitlin Bacher, founder and CEO of Scale With Success®, and I’m on a mission to help course creators all over the world grow their business in a way that is profitable and scalable. We are sharing revealing conversations about what it really takes to scale an online course business to millions of dollars per year. Join us here to discover the tough decisions we’ve had to make, the biggest failures we’ve had to bounce back from and the learnings that emerged every step of the way. We are so grateful that we have the chance to share it all with you right here on Scale With Success®: The Podcast Built for Course Creators™. Let’s get started.
Five giant mistakes that you need to quit making right now.
Mistake #1: Nobody understands what problems you solve.
Now, I follow and consume content from a lot of course creators on Instagram and TikTok, some of whom I’ve followed for years.
And I love some of these course creators to pieces and will give their content a heart because they are entertaining and thought-provoking, and yet I have no clue what problems people pay them to solve.
Now don’t get me wrong, their content is engaging and even informative, but for the life of me, I would never be able to tell you that they sold a course on how to camp with your family, or sold a course on how to build your boudoir photography business, or sold a course on how to decorate their nursery.
You may know what problems you help people solve, but does anyone else?
One of the best things that you can do on social media is create problem-aware content.
That’s content that is specifically designed to attract people experiencing a problem that your course can solve.
I think course creators sometimes assume that their audience will get bored of them posting the same thing over and over, but the key is to not post the same thing over and over.
Instead of unleashing your creativity by going wide, go deep.
For example, if you teach a course on how to decorate your nursery, you don’t need to post recipes for baby food. Yes, it will attract people who care for babies, but your course isn’t about baby meal prep. It’s about decorating a nursery.
So get creative by coming up with a big list of all the problems people encounter when trying to decorate their nursery.
What mistakes are they making? What terrible advice are they following, and what mindset traps are keeping them stuck?
Use your creativity to go deep, not wide.
Mistake #2: Nobody knows you have something to sell.
If you have an online course that is available to purchase 24/7, then your social media should be driving people into your funnel 24/7.
I see so many course creators who are creating incredible content, but you’re not telling me to opt into anything.
Instead, you’re telling me to follow for more or to leave a comment.
Now if you have a funnel, then you need to be telling people to go straight to it.
Inside Scale With Success® Accelerator, we show clients how to build a profitable sales engine in less than 30 days.
A sales engine is like an automated webinar without the low conversion rate.
In fact, we’ve seen our clients 3X the results of their previous automated webinar attempts by replacing it with a sales engine.
➡️ Want to learn more about what a sales engine is and how it can work for your business, click the link around this episode and sign up for my free masterclass. Where you’ll learn “How to Generate Launch-Sized Revenue Without Launching” using our sales method.
There, see how easy that can be? I mentioned the 30-day program I sell, how it helps people, and what you can do to learn more.
That’s exactly what you need to be doing on your social media every single day.
Mistake #3: Nobody knows just how incredible your course truly is.
Now I know you are a humble queen, but honestly, your course is life changing and you need to start telling people about it.
You don’t just teach how to camp with your family. You transform families by helping them build rich traditions and memories they will hold dear for decades to come.
You don’t just teach how to build a boudoir photography business. You transform lives by showing photographers how to earn a living that supports their family by facilitating experiences where women can step into their sexuality and change the way they see themselves forever.
You don’t just teach how to decorate a nursery, you- well, I’m not going to do all of these for you.
My point is that your course is more than a course.
And if you’re thinking to yourself, “Well, that sounds hard. I’d really like some help figuring out the deeper transformation that my course provides,” then you need to get inside Scale With Success® Accelerator asap, because that is exactly what we help people do.
Mistake #4: You are being way too hard on yourself.
Have you ever had a complete stranger or maybe an unhappy client say something out of pocket to you on social media?
Welcome to the club.
When people leave negative comments on social media or ads, it can be easy to retreat and feel like you just want to disappear.
But what I want you to realize is those nasty comments say more about them than they say about you.
I mean, have you ever gone on someone’s social media account to complain about all the things that bug you about them?
Probably not.
You have to be a pretty unhappy person to do that.
Just the other day, someone left a comment on one of my ads that told me to ‘stop talking’. However, they left this comment on pretty much all of my ads, which of course tells the algorithm they find my content engaging and it’ll just keep showing it to them.
Years ago, I would spend hours thinking about how to respond, what should I say, and how should I say it?
But now, if I see a comment like that, I just delete and block and my team does the same.
It’s a waste to give that kind of energy any of your time and attention.
Mistake #5: You are giving up before the breakthrough.
Every course creator has moments in their business where they want to give up, times when things feel hard, and you start to let negative self-talk take over.
This is my 9th year of selling courses online, and one thing I know for sure is that on the side of every breakdown I’ve ever had in business is a breakthrough.
The bigger the breakdown, the bigger the breakthrough.
Most people stay stuck because:
- They don’t ask for help, or
- They feel like it should be easier.
Easier compared to what?
Who says that building a business that lasts for decades and leaves an incredible legacy is easy?
And who says just because something feels hard at times, it can’t also be fun?
When you fall in love with the process, the whole process, good, bad, and ugly, that’s when you become unstoppable.
Because the process is the only thing that you can control, not the outcome.
That will always be beyond your control, and while you can definitely take actions that influence the outcome, hating the process of making mistakes and having big embarrassing failures is a waste of time because that’s unavoidable.
If you keep doing the work until it works, then your success is inevitable, and the only way to truly fail on your dreams is to give up.
That’s all for now, and I’ll chat with you next week on Scale With Success®, The Podcast.
Are you sick and tired of launching and looking for a proven method to generate consistent revenue from your online course on auto-pilot?
Sign up for my free masterclass, “How To Generate Launch-Sized Revenue Without Launching” and I’ll show you how our clients are making MORE money in LESS time than they ever did while launching.
If making sales everyday in a way that is completely automated and doesn’t require paid advertising sounds good to you, then click the link around this episode and sign up for my free masterclass today.
Today’s episode is brought to you by Scale With Success® Accelerator — an online course designed to help you generate launch-sized revenue without lanching. If you want to learn MORE about our proven method for success, click here to watch my free masterclass. See you in there!