Level Up Your Course Podcast With Janelle Allen: Create Online Courses That Change Lives

Welcome, everybody! I am joined today by Jennifer Lee, bestselling author, coach, and founder of Artizen Coaching®. Jennifer spent ten years in corporate America as a consultant for Fortune 500 companies before going full-time into coaching in 2006. Her first book, The Right-Brain Business Plan, paved the way for her Right-Brain Business Plan® Home Study program, a self-paced course that offers a creative and intuitive way to finish your business plan. She joins me today to share her business journey and a walk-through of the program. We discuss the early stages of her course, the home-study approach, and her powerful tips for those who want to adopt a similar model. **You can’t stay in planning-mode forever. It is the action that you take that’s going to make this real. ** Episode Quotes "I realize that I am my own boss, and I need to figure out the business plan." "You are not just a coach; you are a business owner." "It is best to start with live content since it is the quickest,

Hey, everyone! I’m joined today by Val Geisler, an email marketing conversion copywriter. Val, who has been called an “email savant”, got started in marketing but found her real passion in email-related projects. Her exclusive online course, the Email Masters Incubator, is for copywriters who are looking to leverage email marketing for better customer experiences and retention. She teaches her students how to strategically utilize different platforms, allowing them to work more efficiently with their clients. Val and I discuss her course modules, the challenges she faced when creating the program, and her tips to overcome the “stuck zone”. We need to return to a human experience where people feel seen and heard; the best way to do that is email. Episode Quotes "As a business owner, how you treat people is vital." "The best thing you can do as a business owner is being willing to learn from areas outside of your typical bubble." “Listening is one of the most important things in any customer

What’s up, everyone! I am joined today by Sean McCabe aka Sean Wes: author of Overlap: The Ultimate Guide to Turning Your Side Passion into a Successful Business and creator of Supercharge Your Writing, a copywriting masterclass that aims to help you double your sales by fixing your messaging. We talk about his course and business model, and his journey from hand-lettering artist to business educator. Everything in life is sales. If it doesn't cost them money, it costs them time. Episode Quotes "You have to earn the right to play the long game." "Understand where your audience is at in the Buyer's Journey and deliver the right message." "Deliver value to the people who already know you, and give an entrance point to your potential audience." "The power in vulnerability is sharing things that will also help other people in their journey and adding value." Listen to Learn 00:25 Getting to know Sean McCabe, Rapid Five Questions 04:22 Sean's business journey 09:30 The evolu

What’s up, everybody! I am joined today by Tiffany Han, founder of Say Yes Creative. Tiffany is a writer, teacher, and coach who believes that progress and success are made when we stop waiting for things to be perfect. Her course, Raise Your Hand Say Yes, is designed for smart, driven women who are tired of over-extending themselves in a life dictated by others. She’s here to chat about her journey, her program, and how she says yes to success. We find success by saying yes to the things that we really want before we are ready. Episode Quotes "Not waiting for things to be perfect is how progress gets made and how success is created." "Once you know what you don't know, the only way through that is to keep moving forward." "An attitude of gratitude is the way to fulfillment." "It is more about the energy that we are showing up with than it is about the external things." "It's not about your course idea, it's about who you are serving and what problem you're solving

Hello everybody! Joining me today is Jason Resnick – web developer, business coach and email marketing specialist. He is here with us to share his journey and his online course (Feast). Feast is a roadmap and a community for freelancers to niche down, specialize their business and build recurring revenue. **If you keep the WHY in mind, all your decisions that you make on a daily basis will get you there. ** Episode Quotes "There is tomorrow. If you fail today, pick yourself up, learn from it." "There is no secret sauce here. It's just a lot of discipline, dedication, hustle and persistence." "Inject a little personality in your business. You have to be the face of your business." "Find what your medium is. You have to be where your customers are going to be." "Instead of saying I don't have time, say it's not a priority." Listen to Learn 00:17 Getting to know Jason Resnick, Rapid Five Questions 04:00 Jason's career and business journey - web development, busin

Hello everybody! Joining me today is Katelyn Bourgoin – growth strategist and consultant. She is here to share her journey and the story behind her Customer Discovery Training course. Customer discovery is figuring out if people want what you're building before building it. Her course helps content creators know their ideal customers and what to build to accelerate their growth. Enjoy! If you try to market to everyone, you're going to end up marketing to no one. Episode Quotes "Marketing is one way of thinking about growth but there are other channels that can help with growth." "People don't believe advertising anymore, they are overwhelmed by content marketing." "Being visible is important, but the proof is going to be in the quality of your product." "At the end of the day the content (free or paid) needs to be valuable, and that goes back to knowing your audience." "The idea of customer development is after launching your thing you want to make it better with t

What’s up everyone! Today, I am joined by Dorie Clark, marketing strategy consultant, author and course creator. Dorie and I chat about her business journey, her course (Rapid Content Creation Masterclass) and strategies for content creation. Enjoy! You don’t have to blog. What’s necessary is a consistent way that you’re committed in sharing your ideas. Content creation has always been the very big challenge for course creators. Dorie shares three key points where people get stuck: time management, what topic to write and what format to use. Episode Quotes "It is important to be really clear and precise about your personal brand." "A lot of times listening to your audience is the key in coming up with ideas." "One of the easiest ways to get started if you want to create something is to run it live." "If you have expertise in a field, lean on that, use it to come up with ideas." "Content creation should not be something that you view as separate, it should support t

Hello everybody! Joining us today is Andrea Jones. Andrea is a social media strategist and course creator. Being a social media enthusiast, she understood the power of social media in adding value to businesses. Her course Savvy Social School helps online course creators and entrepreneurs master different social media platforms, generate leads, build an audience and more. Social media allows entrepreneurs to connect with people on an individual level. Episode Quotes "As entrepreneurs we have to just learn to trust ourselves and trust our gut and go with that decision." "You don't have to use all the tools all at once, use the tool that works for you in the moment." "Use your personal life as a leverage point to share personalized stories." "You have to be intentional about investing time into that platform in order to see a return." "Social media is social, you are there to build connections with people." Listen to Learn 00:15 Getting to know Andrea Jones, Rap

What’s up everyone! Today my guest is Michael Knouse, a business coach and strategist. Having personally experienced the impact of coaching, Michael transitioned from a corporate career into becoming a business coach for visionary business builders. His program Growth Catalyst helps service entrepreneurs grow their business through mentorship and various coaching strategies. Listen as Michael shares his journey as a business coach, and how he structured Growth Catalyst to give his clients the best results. Coaching has been a big part of my life in allowing me to succeed Episode Quotes "I want to build it around from a place of integrity...what is going to give people the best results?" "Representation is so important, when we can see and point to somebody, that's a huge catalyst." "The business journey is hard, and helping people withstand that journey juices me up." Listen to Learn 00:38 Getting to know Michael Knouse, Rapid 5 Questions 07:13 Michael's journey becoming a busine

Hello everybody! Joining us today is Ryan Clover-Owens – librarian, web designer and course creator. Ryan is a student in my new group program, Finish Your Damn Course. This episode was super fun to create. Ryan and I chat about his online course vision, the mental roadblocks he encountered, and his results from the program. Education is the best way to get attention, to grow an audience, to make an impact. Episode Quotes "Online courses is what propels me into my own learning and it has totally transformed my life." "Doing services helps you define your process and get clear on who your course will be for." "I started thinking about my clients as my students." "Defining who the course is for opens up opportunities for you to create other products." "My big win was serving my audience… it is an honor to be part of what they are creating." Listen to Learn 01:00 Getting to know Ryan Clover-Owens 05:05 Ryan's web design business 08:53 Challenges and motivation

What’s up everyone! Today, I am joined by Xayli Barclay, video content strategist and course creator. Xayli discovered the power of video through her work as clothing designer and beauty blogger. After getting many questions about creating videos, she pivoted to make video strategy her focus. In this episode you’ll learn about her journey, her course and her tips on creating awesome videos. If you’re thinking about getting started with video or want to know how to run a YouTube channel, this episode is for you. Enjoy! Video takes away that barrier of being far. It is a great connector. Episode Quotes "Failing is super essential and nothing can be done without you failing" "You need to focus on your message - your goal for video and your message" "Content is always at the forefront of my mind" "Remember that your goal is to serve people through your content" Listen to Learn 00:13 Getting to know Xayli Barclay, Rapid 5 Questions 04:40 The business journey - Xayli the vide

Hey, hey! Joining us on the show today is Chris Do, an Emmy award-winning director, designer and educator. Chris is also the CEO of Blind, a design consultancy in Los Angeles. In this episode, Chris and I talk about The Futur, his online education platform for designers. We also get into a pretty intense discussion about democratizing education. Enjoy! I want to make a difference on this planet. I'm on a mission to educate the world. Episode Quotes "Education, like healthcare, should be a universal right and not a privilege." "I believe that learning the tools and the techniques of design making is universal." "Hardwire yourself not to look at what makes you less than, but focus on what makes you more than." Listen to Learn 00:02 What is the ultimate goal of The Futur? 04:13 Challenges in Developing countries, thoughts on to solve them 12:23 Course creation process, how to make content more actionable 17:37 How do you figure out the learner's journey? 19:41 How teaching design di

Hello everyone! Today I am joined by Conni Biesalski. Conni is a photographer, digital filmmaker, entrepreneur and marketing mentor. Her course The Art of Vulnerability helps students connect with themselves and other people on a deeper level, develop personal growth, and overcome their struggles and fears. When it comes to vulnerability I think it's about taking very small steps. Episode Quotes "We think vulnerability in sharing our personal challenges is a weakness." "The biggest surprise was that people loved me more and really appreciated that openness." "You can give people all the information but if they don't take action then it's worthless." Listen to Learn 00:23 Getting to know Conni, Rapid 5 Questions 04:28 Conni's business journey - travel blogging, course creator, helping people 08:38 Biggest surprise when Conni started being vulnerable in sharing 11:18 Overview of the online course “The Art of Vulnerability” 15:00 Validation process before starting the course 18:11 W

Hey everybody, welcome to the very first episode of 2019! In this episode, I’ll share the highlights of 2018, including the challenges, wins, and lessons learned. This is a follow-up from my Annual Review on the blog, which you can read here. And, of course, we’ll talk about the awesome things coming up in 2019! Episode Quotes "If you are going through challenges, I just want you to be encouraged that it's real life." "Self paced courses are great but I realized I was missing that learner connection." "Whenever I have challenges I always [try to] figure out what the lesson is." "Mastery is all about progress. It's about committing for the long haul and mastering your craft." Listen to Learn 00:05 Episode Intro 01:18 My 2018: Highlights, Challenges and Wins 11:40 Lessons learned from 2018 21:00 Exciting things coming up for 2019 26:15 My tips and recommendations for you Want More? You can read my full 2018 Annual Review here: https://www.zencourses.co/articles/2018

(Sometimes you get lucky and find a podcast episode you thought you lost. This is an episode from 2017, when the show was still called The Zen Course Show. Enjoy!) What’s up everyone! Joining me today on the show is Daniel Lewis. He is an educator, podcast advocate and award-winning podcaster. He’s also the creator of The Audacity to Podcast course. In this episode, Daniel shares how podcasting benefits course creators and how to implement SEO in podcasts. I believe podcasting is the best way to share your message. Episode Quotes "I felt like there was a void in the space. There was a perspective that wasn't being shared." "When you use a podcast to share your message, people will start to know, like and trust you." "It's really about making amazing content because that's what makes the difference." Listen to Learn 00:29 Getting to know Daniel 02:14 Rapid 5 Questions 03:40 Daniel's journey becoming The Audacity to Podcast guy 08:26 How podcasts can benefit course creators? 12:33

Hey everybody! We have Alex Hillman on the show today. Alex is the founder of Indy Hall, a coworking community in Philadelphia; he’s also the co-founder of StackingtheBricks.com, along with Amy Hoy. In this episode, Alex and I discuss the essence of trust in relationship building and community building, the story behind 30x500 (he and Amy’s flagship course), and how to identify and close the gap between what is obvious to you and what is obvious to your students. There’s always going to be a gap, your job is to identify that gap and close it one step at a time Episode Quotes "Relationship building and community building is all about trust." "There is a range of what teaching really means but at the heart of it I think it's really understanding how to help people." "We are so used to being self-focused and wanting to be seen as that creative inspired genius." Listen to Learn 00:20 Getting to know Alex, Rapid 5 Questions 03:21 Alex's business journey: web development to co-working

What’s up everybody! Joining us in this episode is Nathan Barry, the founder/CEO of ConvertKit, an email marketing company for creators. You might expect that Nathan is a huge proponent of using email to connect, grow, and sell. What you may not know is that BEFORE ConvertKit, he was using email as the main channel to grow his blog. In this episode, Nathan shares his story and how to use email courses to connect with your audience and sell products. I realized the most successful marketing channel was email. Episode Quotes "You go through problems so you can figure out how to solve them and grow" - Janelle "Email would drive 16x engagements than Twitter would." "If you teach and share that's the difference between people who are reading the blog from people writing them." "You're not trying to get the highest number of people, but the most engaged people" "My mission is to both educate and provide all the tools for other creators to be able to do the same thing&quo

Welcome! Joining us on the show today is the fabulous Justin Jackson, founder of MegaMaker, Transistor.fm and the creator of the course, Marketing for Developers. In this episode, Justin and I chat about the importance of interaction with learners in online courses, the challenge of low completion rates of online courses, and how developers can implement strategies that push learners to be interested and complete the course. Oh, and we talked so much that we ran out of time. This is a good one, folks. Enjoy! What online courses often lack is someone pushing them in real time with real consequences. Episode Quotes "Your journey is your journey. You can't copy what everyone else is doing or done before." "Every day you got to wake up and figure out how you're going to make it work for you and your customer." "Don't try to buy somebody else's audience. Build your own audience." "You're only going to accomplish something meaningful through a lot of discomfort." "Nowada

Hello everybody! Marcus Blankenship joins us on the show today. Marcus helps coders become solid leaders and build high-performing teams; he’s also the author of Habits that Ruin Your Technical Team. We’re going to talk about his new course, Software Leader Seminar, and his insights on how to be an effective Tech Leader. When you are leading experts: get out of the way and empower your team to make decisions Episode Quotes "It's about creating a team and an environment that's safe enough where everyone can really contribute." "My approach... I would start applying more individual human personal touches." "That was sort of a big realization that if there's demand, there's probably money here." "With courses for entrepreneurs or consultants you do have to figure out how to navigate around life so that people stay on track." Listen to Learn 00:36 Getting to know Marcus Blankenship, Rapid 5 Questions 02:35 Marcus' business journey (Tech Leadership Guy) 08:42 Pivoting to the

Welcome to another episode of Level Up Your Course! Really excited about today’s guest, Brian Casel. Brian is the founder of Productize and Scale and Audience Ops. He’s a master at productizing services. In this episode, we chat about how to leverage the Productized Service model. He also guides us through his course, Productize and Scale, and how he’s built a thriving community. Let’s go! Use customer feedback as your direction Episode Quotes "I usually start with a very big outline to get the main chapters down just to have a roadmap." "A lot of people get stuck on the idea like is this a good idea to productize?" "The main thing that I try to encourage people to do is just get something out there" "When you're doing that transition, start by doing the service first so you can hone in on your processes, strategies, and methodologies" Listen to Learn 00:25 Getting to know Brian Casel 03:24 Brian's journey from music production to freelancing 07:04 Rapid Five Questions