Got this question from one of my viewers — how can someone take all of their expert knowledge and design an online program out of it?
Creating an online product isn't easy, but the rewards can be huge. Here are the three steps I follow that can make it a lot easier for you too…
Nanci Adair
I too have followed you for a long time Jeff and particularly l love the time you talked about your children and parenting them in the art of entrepreneurship. Blessings, Nanci
Elaine Grohman
Thank you Jeff, I think that you are the answer to my prayers. I am looking to launch something that has not been done before, and at times I have “analysis paralysis” which causes a stagnation. Thank you for your inspiration! I appreciate your videos.
with gratitude,
Elaine Grohman
Andy
that would be great. we homeschool our kids and have wanted to know about how to get this stuff to stick to my kids.
Carla van Raay
God bless you, Jeff!
Christine O'Leary
Love your videos every week Jeff – your content is always spot on and exactly what I need to hear! I’ve just finished my seed launch and am packaging up my digital product 1.0 from the live webinar recordings and PDF workbooks (5 of each of course – plus a Bonus Q&A) – and I had a coughing fit during the last webinar! I couldn’t help but laugh when you described that exact scenario. I was mortified at the time but I feel so much better to know that’s happened to others! I’m going to re-record that one with Camtasia as my webinars are primarily voiceover to slides. I’d love a future video blog on this ‘next step’ of the seed launch – actually packaging up the resulting components to make a saleable digital product. Keep up the great, inspiring content! Christine O’Leary, Queensland, Australia
Dan
Hey Jeff–love your material. Thanks for helping me out every week.
I’m afraid I’m making the mistake of developing a product that my market hasn’t specifically asked for. I’ve tested my idea by sending a few sample videos to leaders in my field to get feedback on the idea. I’ve received great feedback from these leaders. But here’s the thing–the leaders in the field aren’t my intended customers. Many people offer my intended customers an in-person version of my product but no one is offering an always available on-line version (there are many time-bound webinars offered). I think I have a “take” on the material that will be very helpful and make my teaching more effective than what most people have experienced through in person trainings. The market is potentially large, accounting for over 5% of the U.S. GDP.
I have no list and no good way of getting my product out to people other than through creating it, marketing it and hoping for sales. I am thinking that I will tweak the product in response to customer feedback–once the product is created and I (hopefully) have customers. If no customers show up, I may give the product away to enough people to generate feedback and make improvements.
Is there more I should be doing? Am I making the mistake of creating a product that my market hasn’t asked for? Or do I have enough evidence to go forward “full steam ahead?”
Aaron Koral
@Dan: If I were you, I would look at two areas to market your product: 1) Social media via Facebook & Twitter & 2) Affiliate Marketing, where you pay a person to market your content alongside their email list and if your product sells, you pay the affiliate a percentage of your product sales. Hope that helps and good luck with your idea!
Neeraj Ramnani
Hey Jeff,
Thanks a lot for answering my question! Great answer and very relevant to me in my endeavour to create various business courses. Also love the clarity and simplicity with which you answer things- it shows the degree of your grasp on your subject.
Keep up the great work on this blog!
Roxanne
Hi Jeff –
Your videos are always a bright spot in the day. Thank you.
Jason Ballay
Great info – the key is to take action.
Cloris Kylie
Hot topic, Jeff! It’s a coincidence that I’m actually putting together a free teleclass to share my insights on how to create products that sell. And you’re so right–getting feedback from our ideal clients BEFORE we create the product is a must! That’s why I started my own process by sending out a survey to my list on product creation, and now I’m using the survey results to structure my free teleclass. I’ll use the results of the teleclass to create my product creation training. This process works! Thank you!
David Price
The subtext to this talk is “Be human, talk to people and let them talk to you”. Invite people to engage with you, be receptive and give them first of all a human, person-to-person communication. That relieves you of the curse of “experts mind” where you already know what people want, already know what people need, a state that some gurus are trapped in unbeknownst to themselves.
Your genius, Jeff, if you don’t already know, is the ease to which people can relate to you. You naturally pull people toward you. The back-and-forth you establish makes doing business with you easy, pleasurable. You may not realize that this quality can’t easily be taught, although Tony Robbins does a pretty good job by pointing to basics like the importance of anchoring yourself in a positive “state”.
But giving simple do’s and don’t’s like you are doing here is a skillful way to sidestep the insecurities that underlie perfectionism and that sabotage most of us. You model this approach admirably. Thank you again.
James David Sheets
Hi Jeff,
Your emails have been hitting for a while now. So, of course, got curious and opened today’s. I am a writer working on a series of
y/a projects to see if my writing is strong enough to sell in my market. I will be a writer until my end. solid. But your course is
naturally a masterpiece. I’ll start watching to see if there is a place for me. What is the price to get involved and using your program.
I am interested…very. If you don’t mind a writer as a client, I am not too upidy as most writes are, to try out a good winning program.
I want a chance to use your plan cause as you know,,, writers sometimes don’t make a lot of money. I hope to- using yours to tell
Thank You in Advance! James David Sheets . Be blessed.
Dustin
My first product was a course in discipline called Six-Weeks to Certainty. That was about four years ago. My wife was pregnant and she encouraged me to do what I’ve always wanted to do: quit my shitty job. So I did. After all, I had 7 more months on the clock — I could make a living in 7 months right?
Wrong! I made the course in about a month and then taught myself how to build a website and toiled over the perfect shade of blue for weeks. Then, once it was finally done, I linked up PayPal and started charging $60 for the course.
But then days went by and no one was coming to my website! Haha, man what a disaster I was. Didn’t know the first thing about running an internet business. That’s always a fun story to tell.
More like Six Weeks to Un-Certainty, haha!
Aaron Koral
Great video, Jeff – thanks for sharing this! Especially loved the “curse of knowledge” comments – so true when teaching what you know to non-experts! Keep up the great work & I wish you continued success!
Michael Wagner
Great advice, as always! I love how when you hosted those two webinars that didn’t come out the way you wanted and then offered to redo them “as a bonus.” Some of us would have just felt bad that we didn’t do the best job. Instead, you just redid them and reframed it as a bonus. Your encouragement to just get it out there – as a seed launch or version 1.0 is something I really need to hear. I’m too much of a perfectionist and am seeing how that hurts me. A timely video!!!!! Thank you, Jeff!
Kami McBride
Yep, the seed launch process has changed everything for me……..Thank you!
David Crabill
Thanks Jeff, I’m a newbie and this video is very timely. I didn’t get your email this week (went to spam), but tonight I thought “Hey, I didn’t get an email from Jeff”, so I headed over to this blog to find your latest post. That’s really saying something since I’ve only been on your list for a few weeks! Your stuff is always good.
This past week I sent the first mass email to warm my icy cold list. That went well, but I faced an internal debate that I haven’t yet heard you address. To put it succinctly, when does social proof become inferiority? For instance, I wanted to establish some social proof by mentioning that there are 1,500 members in my online community (which happens to be a very large number for my niche), but then I wondered if people would think “Why bother? I’m just one little guy in a sea of 1,500”. Is this a valid concern, and how do you handle it? I want people to know they’re not alone, but I also want them to know that they’re important to me.
Nawahine Kahoopii
Aloha Jeff,
Can a seed launch or a product launch be done to bring awareness to social issues that you are work on changing?
dana r
Hi Jeff,
Been following you for a while. This video hit it right on the spot for me. Not that i didn’t like your material before, but this one really made a difference for me, as a person who wonders often, from which point should i start making an online course considering the amount of knowledge i wish to deliver to whom ever watching…and of course as you said, the outcome is just doing Nothing / simply Procrastinating..
So thank you. Wanted to let you know You have followers in Tel aviv as well..Best, Dana
Steve Gillis
You do realize that you were talking to me in this video Jeff? I have a ton of ideas in my head, but I can’t focus on one idea – think of the dog from the movie ‘Up’ and that’s me. Thanks for clarifying things for me Jeff. You rock, sir!
Carol
Hi Jeff! I’m Carol Perim from Brasil, I’m in the Mentoring group of Romualdo and Cris Franklin, learning a lot about launch formula!! I love the way you talk, it’s very natural and I love your tips. Thanks for bringing this new mindset to the world, contributing to so many people!!
Jim Shanklin
This is really a great “mini-series”, Jeff. I followed each video by making notes as you presented, and can (and will) work them into my product research and launch. Thank you again for leading the way.
Manja
Great advise! Breaking knowledge down into several products – and looking at these opportunities as being wonderful rather than overwhelming was a major mind shift for me. Thank you!
Ben Broenen
Jeff, I think this is your BEST blog video of the last 3 months.
You delivered actionable value in this video and broke it down into 3 easy steps. Please do more of this style of teaching in the future!
1. Create your product based on the feedback from your tribe – you *don’t* have to create your entire product by yourself.
2. Break your topic into 5 pieces (teleseminars, webinars, etc).
3a. Get to Version 1.0 asap (i.e. avoid perfection paralysis).
3b. If you forget to teach something, screw up, or encounter misfortune, release the fix as a bonus.
Love this stuff. Can’t get enough!
P.S. Just had my first coaching call with Christian Mickelsen’s “Free Sessions That Sell” – thanks for referring me to his work! :^)
Patrick Bunn
Awesome points! I really like the one about looking at the first release and just 1.0. It can always be improved. The focus is getting it out there. I would caution not swinging too far into that direction though; you do want a solid enough product that the first version doesn’t leave a permanently bad taste in customer’s mouths to the point they won’t give you a second try.
Pat
Jeff,
Great stuff here!
I own your book. Has it been two years since you wrote it?
I’m doing a seed launch. It’s about how to talk up your products, it’s awesome.
You’re my top Internet Biz guru,
Pat
ken ca|houn
Very helpful tips; thanks for your helpful ideas. Good approach re 5 segments + other approaches.
-ken
Dave
Great tips! Thank you for taking the time to share these – very helpful to me.
Dave
Bliss
Dear Jeff~
I love your honesty! Thank you.
Jair
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for these 3 point advice. They are certainly a formula for beating procrastination and confusion when planning to get things done.
Encouraging
Carl Mccormick
Brilliant stuff Jeff!! Love your 1.0 and 5 modules advice! This can get overwhelming especially when you’ve created a great looking product and are concentrating too much on the content as you want to the content to be perfect but your right and as Nike says! “JUST DO IT”