Course Creators Academy

Stories sell.Stories sell for the same reason that box offices can get away with charging $20+ for movies. People love a great story. In most indigenous cultures, the language, traditions, dances, and rituals were all passed down verbally, and many of these oral traditions were centered around stories. Great stories are memorable, impactful, and allow us to become involved and emotionally invested in the characters, activities, journeys, and outcomes.Hollywood (and all other film capitals of our modern world) has boiled the art of storytelling down to a science. Most productions follow a similar formula to maximize the entertainment value of a story. If you think about it, most, if not all of our favorite movies follow a similar formula.One of my favorite marketing thought-leaders, Donald Miller, has taken this formula and applied it to the art of marketing and copywriting. I've recently been immersing myself in Donald Miller's resources, and I have to say, I'm a believer!On today's podcast, I'll share with you Donald's "StoryBrand" framework and why I have decided to model this framework for any website, landing page, and email that I create.Here's the outline of the StoryBrand framework:A Characterhas a problemand meets a guidewho gives them a planand calls them to actionthat helps them avoid failureand ends in success!People want your brand to participate in their transformation.(In case it wasn't abundantly clear up until now, I'd like to reiterate that this is NOT my framework, teachings, or intellectual property, and must give all the credit to Donald Miller and his company, StoryBrand.)If you'd like to scoop up your own copy of Donald Miller's "Building a StoryBrand", you can find it on Amazon!As always, I'd love to hear what you're working on and if these episodes are helpful for you! Feel free to tag us on IG @pualena.co and @coursecreators.academy!...

Have you met Bri? Bri Leever (yup, best name EVER!) is the founder of Ember Consulting and her specialty is teaching her clients how to utilize and cultivate COMMUNITY to enhance their customer experience. In this episode, Bri shares how her personal and professional experiences have culminated to lead her to start her business, and why she believes community is an essential component of any business! Connect with Bri at @ember.consulting on Instagram and check out her suite of services at www.emberconsulting.co.

How to do a Beta LaunchBeta Launches for Online Courses are essentially the way that you can test your proof of concept! Rather than creating a prototype of a physical product, you're testing your course from top to bottom on a small group of people who agree to experience the course, share feedback, and be part of the creation process.Free or Paid?One of the most common questions I get asked is, "Should my Beta Launch be Free or Paid (with discount)?"I always recommend charging a small amount to participate in a beta launch…Prove it's something people will actually spend money onThey're more likely to participate & take it seriously if they have a little bit of skin in the gameGet a little bit of income while you create (course creation is time consuming)…now, you'll be providing a discount for a valuable experience. In exchange for this, it's important to CLEARLY communicate what's expected of them in return!Things to remember:Set clear parameters & boundariesMeasure / Log / Track EVERYTHING!What you'll need:Course platformFeedback channelsPayment gatewayThings to create content9 Steps to Running a Beta Launch:Clearly Identify Your GoalsDefine, Identify, and Connect with Your Ideal AudienceCreate Your Course Outline (Framework)Create Your Trainings, Resources, & MaterialsDecide on Your PricingSet Up Feedback Channels & Analysis ProtocolsDocument Your ResultsDebrief Your Beta Launch & Make ImprovementsPlan & Execute Your Official Launch!Whew! That was a lot but I hope you're feeling more supported as you navigate your next Beta Launch! I'd love to hear about what you're creating! Tag us in your stories on Instagram @pualena.co and @coursecreators.academy!Keep Crushin'!

Movement is crucial not only to our overall health and wellness, but to our productivity, happiness, and ultimately to our success as entrepreneurs! Most of us spend several hours at a time sitting at our desks. That's just the nature of the biz, but that doesn't mean we can't also implement some mindful movement and self-care throughout the day! In this episode, the fabulous Megan Nolan shares practical exercises and tips that we can implement today to improve our circulation, focus, productivity, and quality of life! Learn some simple stretches and a quick 5-minute routine to get that blood flowing and neurons firing! Megan came bearing gifts! The first one is a 5-day challenge called "Thrive in Five" that she's doing just for our Course Creators Clubhouse community! Jump into the Clubhouse and check out Megan's live training! You can also grab Megan's Mini Morning Routine with bite-sized tips to supercharge your morning! You're also one of the first to learn about Megan's new "Out of Pain and Into POWER" workshop! Get signed up for this FREE workshop on March 23rd to learn more about how to shift from pain and discomfort to focused and empowered through mindful movement! Connect with Megan at yogaatmydesk.yoga and @iammegannolan on Instagram!

So you're thinking of starting a business, launching a course, creating a new product...and the first thing you need is a website, right?! WRONG!

Paul N. Larsen is an speaker, coach, and author of his book and signature program: Find Your V.O.I.C.E. as a leader. My friendship with Paul began the day he reached out to inquire about design services. A client who quickly became a treasured friend and mentor, Paul has shared his talents, wisdom, energy, and love with our Course Creator communities in so many ways. One of Paul's specialties is coaching his clients to not overcome, but to thrive with Imposter Syndrome and the many ways that sneaky voice sneaks into our heads to tell us we aren't good enough, experienced enough, smart enough, or worthy of all the things we desire. I can't wait for you to hear what Paul has to share in this episode! To date, Paul has successfully coached over 500 talented leaders worldwide. A sample of his current clients include teams and leaders at Twitter, Electronic Arts, SAP, Walmart, Autodesk, Cisco, Salesforce, PagerDuty, Kaiser Permanente and Charles Schwab. His inspiring yet practical life experiences led him to author the award winning coaching book entitled “Find Your VOICE as a Leader” (2016, Aviva Publishing). As a compelling and engaging speaker and facilitator, Paul inspires audiences around the world to find their V.O.I.C.E. by: Discovering their core leadership Values; Creating a vision to get the Outcomes they desire; Building relationships with Influence and credibility; Making decisions that reveal their Courage to take a stand; & Communicating their overall Expression for lasting impact. ______

In this episode, we'll walk through a process that I use and love to do some Big Visioning for your business and your life for the New Year and beyond! **Spoiler Alert** It's NOT a New Year's Resolution activity - I don't believe in those! Instead, this is a quarterly and weekly planning process that you can revisit every regularly to stay in alignment and on track with your vision and your goals. Scoop up a free digital copy of this weekly planner at pualena.com/planner so you can follow along and do your own weekly and quarterly planning for your business and your life! Big shout out to my business BFF Kimi Morton for co-creating this amazing planning ritual with me so many years ago. It has been a cornerstone of my business and my life for years and I'm so thrilled to share it with all of you today!

In this episode, we'll chat about 5 awesome tools for course creators in 2021! (By the way, this episode drops at 12:21 on 12/21/21! Loving these 21's, my favorite number!) A little back story for those who may not be familiar with me quite yet - I own a company called Pualena Digital Design, and our main service is custom websites, online courses, and membership sites. 90% of our clients are small businesses and solo entrepreneurs who are either launching or re-designing online courses and membership sites. While I believe strongly in the efficiency of outsourcing the parts of your process that create bottlenecks and don't bring you joy, a lot of entrepreneurs (myself included) choose to DIY their course production, especially early on in their journey while they build the capital to hire quality support. These are 5 tools that I recommend to ALL of our clients who are creating online courses! Loom - Screen-share recordings iMovie / Final Cut Pro (for Mac users) - video editing GarageBand (for Mac) users - audio recording & editing Canva / Keynote / PowerPoint - presentation slides Kajabi - host your course and membership. This all-in-one platform also offers email management, CRM, podcast, coaching, payment gateway, and more! The link here provides a free 30-day trial! It is an affiliate link. I'd love to know if you use these, if this episode inspired you to give any of these a try, and if you have any favorite course creation tools and apps to add to the list! If you're enjoying this show so far, I'd love it if you'd leave a review on apple podcasts! That's a totally free way to help us reach more ears!

Ready to level up your systems and processes in 2022? Listen in to find out our picks for the Top 7 Productivity Tools for Course Creators in 2021! Here are direct links to these platforms if you want to check them out! Some of these are affiliate links. ClickUp - Project & Task Management Slack - Communication Canva - Graphic Design, Image and Video Editing Calendly - Scheduling Later.com - Social Media Scheduler Google Drive - Collaboration and File Organization Google Calendar - Calendar Management I'd love to know if you use these, if this episode inspired you to give any of these a try, and if you have any favorite productivity tools and apps to add to the list! If you're enjoying this show so far, I'd love it if you'd leave a review on apple podcasts! That's a totally free way to help us reach more ears!

Are you thinking about creating an Online Course to either enhance or replace your main source of income? In this episode, we'll chat about the strategies and best practice for how to transition or integrate your new course into your current professional trajectory.

So you're ready to start creating your online course, but there are so many things to design, build, and launch to put your course in motion...where do you start?! In this episode, I'll share my favorite strategies around course creation and exactly where I recommend to start! Looking to get started on Kajabi? Click here for a free 30-day trial! (Full disclosure: this is an affiliate link.)

Welcome to the Course Creators Academy! I'm looking forward to providing a space to get inspired and learn impactful tips, tricks, and strategies for your Course Creation journey!