Hey there. Online courses and programs are not going away anytime soon. If you haven't created your first signature offer, then don't go away. I'm going to offer some tips. Plus, you're going to breathe a sigh of relief when I share how you can tackle a big project like creating your first signature course effortlessly. That's what we're going to talk about today as we deal with the topic how to create a winning online product here on the Resilient Faith Online Show. Welcome. I'm Arissa Shadrick, host of the Resilient Faith Online Show. I'm an online marketing coach and certified copywriter. In this podcast, you'll find a different perspective to the external and internal challenges we face as online content creators. Join me for some inspiration and practical tips as we create positive change online. To connect with me in my private Facebook group, go to MarissaShadrick.com forward slash community. Hello, hello. Yes. We are getting close to the end of the year, and then before we know, we're going to be starting the new year. And when we go from quarter to quarter, we're often looking at all of the products that we have. We look at the services we provide. In the online space, there's so much opportunity. And oftentimes people either create a digital course or they have some type of coaching program where they can begin to bring consistent revenue. Now, if you've never created a signature offer, we're going to talk a little bit about the components, some of the things you should think about. And we're also going to talk about how to put it all together. Because when you're trying to create a winning online product, it can be overwhelming. Like copywriting, any project that you tackle, you do it one bite at a time. You don't try to tackle the whole thing and knock it all out in one sitting. One, because you're really not going to be able to dig deep and really provide those unique features and benefits that are really going to help you stand out in the market. So we're going to tackle this. The first thing we're going to look at is the topic. Now, when you're thinking about providing a type of service or coaching program, now I'm primarily talking about the online space. Think about the topic. Think about what is it that I'm really good at that people always ask me questions about this particular topic. I love talking about it. I love helping people with this subject. And think about what the problem is that you can solve. But you also want to think about your unique twist on it. How are you going to show up and solve that problem in a unique way that's not offered anywhere else? A lot of that has to do with your personality and your style and the way you deliver content, right? You can also with topic look at keywords and you can also do market research so that you can really dial in if it's a marketable product. The next thing you want to do is think about the process. Now, this is simply kind of brainstorming and looking at it and thinking, hmm, do I want to create this product so that they can accomplish something in a specific time frame, like within 30 days, or maybe a four-week coaching program, or this should be a six-week coaching program. What's the time frame if there is one? Maybe that's kind of a do-it-yourself, work at your own pace, where they just have the digital product, and there's no time frame. And your customers can determine their own customized time frame. Now that's a great way to go. However, we found that many people that offer digital courses, when it's just buy it and go ahead and work on this digital course by yourself, that oftentimes people don't complete the course. I know I've bought courses that I didn't complete. And I decided earlier this year to just go back to those courses that I had purchased and go through them because I had not completed them yet. So that's the problem when people are kind of left on their own to complete something. Sometimes they don't complete it. And if you really care about your customers and your students, you want to be able to help them get that transformation. So as you're looking at the process, think about the time frame. And then also think about the framework or formula. Is there a framework or formula that's special to you that you want to include in this? And that'll help you give clarity as far as the process and how they're going to reach that transformation. You also want to think about the platform. Where will I have this product appear? What will be a really user-friendly platform? What will make it easy and simple for my students to be able to access and consume the content? The other thing you want to think about now are the deliverables. Now we're not talking necessarily about copy because copy often focuses a lot on the benefit and the transformation. We're actually talking about the actual product itself. So with the deliverables, you want to figure out how will the solution be provided? In other words, is it going to be one-on-one coaching or are you going to have a small group? Or is it going to be a digital course where it's one, you being the one-to-many? So you just record it and they consume it. So you want to think about that. Is it a one-to-one where they actually get access to you and they're able to get personalized, customized coaching? Is it a small group setting? And again, think of the time limit if it is a small group setting, or is it one-to-many? The best way to do that is with a digital course, or maybe you can have some type of workshop or boot camp where you're teaching something and then your audience, your students, are able to follow you along, but it's one to many. You're not really in a small group, like in a Zoom setting where you're having conversation, you're dialoguing back and forth. The other thing you want to think about is the delivery. Will there be uh just videos? Will there be transcripts? Will it be audio? You want to think about PDF workbooks, worksheets. Is it going to be live? Is it going to be pre-recorded? All of that is in the delivery on how you want to create your product. The other thing you want to think about too is is it do-it-for-you? Now, oftentimes do it for you is done for you. For example, I'm a copywriter. I can do done for you copy where my clients come to me with a product and they want somebody to write all the copy for them, and I do it for them after we have an intake call and I figure out more, I get more information about their business, and I'm able to do that and then deliver that copy for them. Or is your product going to be a done with you where you come alongside with them and you help them step by step? Or is it a do-it-yourself? Again, we're kind of overlapping a little bit. The do-it-yourself would be like a digital product that they would just purchase and do it at their own pace. Done with you would be more like coaching, but these are the things you want to ask yourself when you're thinking about it. And all you have to do right now is really just brainstorm some ideas, jot some things down. You don't have to write everything in sequential order, you're just putting out ideas. The next thing you want to think about is the speed and convenience. This has a lot to do with that time frame. Is there a certain pace that you want to set for your students or your customers? And how convenient is it? Will they have a Facebook group or is it going to be on another platform? You know, how easy is it for them to interact with maybe other students if you're going to include that? How easy is it for them to ask questions that they need to reach out to you? So you want to think about the speed and the convenience. And the other thing, too, in line with that would be the level of support. If there's going to be any texting opportunities or a chat, oftentimes a Facebook group, a pop-up group will take care of that. Will people can post something there, a question, and then people can respond and interact with each other? Will there be email communication, maybe guiding them and just introducing maybe each lesson of each month or each week with an email and prompting them to go to the platform to be able to consume the lesson or the video series, whatever you have for them? So will you have email communication? That's part of the support, providing that incentive. Hey, reminder, lesson two is ready. To be sure to go over there and check it out, that type of thing. Will you have emails? Will there be any like one-off Zoom calls? Will there be an onboarding call? Will there be QA calls? All these things you want to consider. Not that you have to have all this, but you want to figure out for your particular business what works best and what works best for your audience. So those are some of the things you want to think about with deliverables. And then you also have the creatives, which is the images or the logo. Are you going to have a logo and a name for your product? And is there going to be an image connected to it? So when they see that image, they know it's that product. That's the other element you might want to jot down and put on a note that you might want to look at the creative part and see what kind of creatives you're going to have for that. You want to keep three things in mind when you're brainstorming a product. First of all, it needs to provide a transformation. They need to go from their before story and reach an afterstory. So number one is provide transformation. Number two is you want to remove as much complexity as possible. I mean, do any of us want a more complicated or busy life? I don't think so. So you want to see how can I remove complexity? How can I make this easy and seamless and just really a no-brainer for them to purchase this product? So the first one is you want to provide transformation. The second is you want to remove complexity. And the third is how will you shorten the time it takes for them to achieve the result? Now, even with a digital course, you could have something where they are able to achieve some type of certificate of completion. On some platforms, you can even put a little uh question, like a not like a quiz, but something where they would answer certain questions to see if they consume the content and understood it and there's comprehension behind it. Sometimes people like that kind of thing to be able to have those milestones and have some type of certificate or some kind of reward for completing a certain section of your course. You can be creative and you can do anything that's going to create that transformation, remove complexity, make it fun, and shorten the time it takes for them to achieve the result. So it just depends, again, on your audience. So I'm sure you're thinking now, oh my gosh, Marissa, how am I going to do all this? It sounds like a whole heck of a lot. And I'm busy already, I'm posting on social media, I'm blogging, I'm creating live streams. How on earth am I going to do this? So, first of all, I want you to relax because I'm going to show you a way that you can allow this product to unfold almost effortlessly. And I want you to understand that this is something that everyone has access to. So when you're thinking about creating a product, all you really need is a notebook. Start with a notebook or wipe a race board. Some people rather have a notebook because it's handy and they can carry it with them. But you want to have a notebook and you want to just lean on the beautiful way that God has created you. There is something called the reticular activating system. And when I learned about this, it connected the dots for me because it really is associated to focus and those times when you have those aha moments, chances are it's a result of the reticular activating system. So the reticular activating system is very complex, and I'm sure people can even do seminars and all kinds of things on this. It's very scientific. I'm not a scientific kind of gal. So let me explain the reticular activating system in layman's terms. It's the filter that brings what's important or what we focus on to our conscious thinking. There's so much around us bombarding us everywhere, right? Can you agree on that? From social media to news on television to all kinds of pop-ups on our phone, all kinds of things. Well, the beautiful thing is the way we've been created, we have this reticular activating system that helps us focus. Now, it's amazing to me. I'm still amazed when this happens to me and I focus on a project. I'm just now in the midst of completing a big project that I've been working on for a while. And that's the other thing, too. You need to give yourself enough time if you're going to work on a project like building a course and all the components that are needed for it. So you want to give yourself time. But here's what author David Allen calls it. He says it's the power of focus. And he talks about this in his book, Getting Things Done. And he says, the reticular formation is the gateway to your conscious awareness. Now, this isn't a bunch of mumbo jumbo. This is real. This is something that happens. And it's it's beautiful. It's how God made us. So it's he says it's the switch that turns on your perception of ideas and data. So, like a computer, your brain has a search function, believe it or not. Our brains are so complex and it has a search function, and it seems to be programmed by what we focus on, which is so interesting. That's why when women are pregnant and they're gonna have a baby, they notice every baby, they notice every other pregnant woman, right? Because it's on their mind. So it's the same way if you're thinking about buying a car and you're thinking about buying a red car, you will notice every single red car on the road. So it's really interesting. We notice what matches our intent. So when we intend to do something or we intend to buy something or we intend to accomplish something, our brain has a way of using its filter to match data based on our intent. Amazing, isn't it? So everything you watch, everything you hear, everything you read, everything you experience, your brain is filtering and almost highlighting the thing that is aligned to your intent. Wow, that was hard to explain, but I got it out. It's aligned with your intent. And then we have these aha moments where it's that moment where you need to grab that notebook and jot down an idea and you go, oh, I got an idea. Because everything that comes at you, whether you're watching it, hearing it, reading, experiencing, that filter in your brain is looking for data to align with your intent. So amazing. And they also claim that you can activate your reticular activating system. This is powerful when working on a project or in this case, course creation. So what I typically do is I start with prayer. I start with prayer about a project that I want to start. And I ask God for to give me wisdom, direction, because I don't really want to do anything out of his will. I want to make sure that I'm led by him when I'm creating something because he is the creator, right? I want to tap in to my father's creativity. So, number one is I pray. The second thing is I just brainstorm as many ideas as possible without judgment. Either it's on a notebook or a wipe erase board or a mind mapping tool. It doesn't matter. You just want to get it out of your head and you want to brainstorm as many ideas that have been floating around and get it out there so that you can make room for more creativity. So I start with prayer. The second is I brainstorm as many ideas as possible and without judgment, that's important. Underscore without judgment, and put it down on paper or put it down on some kind of mind mapping tool or wipe eraseboard, doesn't matter, put it down there so you don't have to worry about it. And then the third thing that I do, I think about what I want to accomplish. And I'm very intentional about this. I even journal about it. And I think about why I want to do it and how will it help people and what will that mean to me? How will it change my life if I succeed with this? So I really think about this particular thing that I want to do. And then I say to myself, okay, for the next month or the next two weeks, I'm gonna think about blank. And every day when I journal, I write something, some idea or something that comes to me about it, or maybe even a struggle. You know, I want to create this, but I'm not sure what platform I'm gonna use. I just write about it. Doesn't matter if it's something that you've decided you're gonna do or something that you're not sure yet what it is, or just some random thoughts about it. I just write it because you're keeping it top of mind. And when you keep it top of mind, your brain is gonna continue to use that filter and almost like a magnet, anything that's going to help you with that course creation is going to just appear. It's not going to be camouflaged by all the noise and all the other stuff that's out there. It really is amazing. This has happened to me over and over again. So I know it's real and I know it works. This is the beautiful thing about allowing the reticular activating system to work for you, is that the ideas almost become effortless. It begins to unfold instead of just making it fit and trying to make it work and trying to put that circle in a square. You know, you're just allowing just patience and gratitude and being led by the spirit to lead you, and you've given yourself enough margin, enough time to be able to do this. So here's something I want you to remember when you move into action and you decide I'm going to do this, and you start journaling about it or brainstorming about it, movement leads to motivation. And motivation leads to momentum. And momentum, my friend, is a beautiful thing. Use the mind that God has given you to release that helpful mental energy that we all need. We all need it. There's a lot of noise out there, right? And God has equipped us with a mind that can help us. So why not tap into that, right? You begin to have those aha moments, and pretty soon you are writing just little phrases of gratitude in your journal because you came up with another idea, another solution, another possibility that never occurred to you before because that reticular activating system is working for you. There's a verse in Philippians 4.13, and this is the King James Version that says, I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. You can do all things, and that should be your mantra. When you see something that's difficult or you run across technology and you're wondering, how am I going to get this done? How am I going to figure it out? Just say to yourself, I can do all things. I can do all things. So I hope that was an encouragement for you today. I really want you to think about how you can finish strong this year or maybe begin to think about how you're going to position the following year and just hit the ground running and let creativity unfold some amazing products and services for the coming year. So until next time, you take care and remember to cultivate resilient faith online to create positive change in the world. Wait, before you go, if you found this podcast helpful, subscribe so you never miss an episode. Every subscription, review, or rating means so much to me. Remember, cultivate resilient faith online to create positive change in the world.