Mini-Course vs. Signature Course?! Which Product to Make?

Hey Friend!

Wondering when to create an online course? Which type is best? Should I do a mini-course, workshop, master-class, or just go for it and create the full, signature product?

The one thing I know for SURE is that passive revenue as busy mama-entrepreneurs is a MUST. We NEED to be offering digital solutions for people so that we don’t have to show up 24/7 exchanging time for money.

This online space is crowded, overwhelming, and time-sucking – but it doesn’t have to be.

In today’s episode, I walk you through your burning passive revenue questions. Which passive product is right for you? When to create yours. How to create it if you don’t yet have a following…if a smaller, mini-course makes more sense vs. going all in and doing a larger, signature offer.

I hope you walk away from today’s chat inspired to take action because sister… there are ZERO reasons why you can’t start offering something passive from DAY 1 that will begin to fund the dream, as you build it. Getting this going is going to be easier than you think.

Saying YES is the first step.

I pray this blesses you!

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

(00:00):
What’s up Lola! I am drinking a health smoothie on my patio, hiding from my kiddos, who I can see cutting boxes up all over my living room so that they can make robot costumes. Such is life friends.

(00:17):
How are you guys doing? Those of you, especially that are distance learning or homeschooling right now, because I’ll tell you what the struggle bus be legit over here. We’re making do. We’re having fun.

(00:34):
I’m blessed to have a great teacher with lots of patience for my son. Then my husband is coworking from home with me. Just all the amens. Thank you, Lord. I want to hear how it’s going for you guys. Come pop into my inbox on Instagram, my DMs.

(00:51):
Anyway, today in this quick bonus episode, I am getting a question. A lot of you are wondering, should I create a mini offer, a small mini online course first as my first passive product? Or should I create my full on signature program? So I’m going to address that question right here right now. And I’m going to hopefully get you some clarity on that.

(01:20):
So the first thing I want to talk to you about is when to create a course period. When do you create a path? Actually, let’s rewind. Let’s go ground zero. What passive product should you create? Right? Cause you can do an eBook. You can do a workbook, audios that cost, a workshop, or an eCourse.

(01:43):
I have done all of the above. I’ve done everything when it comes to passive revenue. Okay? And this is excluding a membership group because that is not passive. That is time for money. This is not including coaching. Cause again, that’s time for money. This is not including a mastermind. That is time for money.

(02:00):
This is talking about passive revenue, creating something that makes you money without you having to exchange your time, energy, or effort for it. My favorite of all our courses.

(02:14):
Why? Because when you create an eBook, you gotta price it like a book. I have a book that I created when I was specifically coaching network, marketers called the Girl Boss’s Guide to Attraction Marketing. It’s like 50 something pages and has links, downloads, and trainings. And guess how much it is guys. It’s like $9.

(02:37):
How many little handbooks does a girl got to sell to make a $100, right? You just can’t scale if your product line is super inexpensive. Here’s the situation. It also took a ton of time to create that.

(02:53):
I had to write a book. Oh my gosh. I had to put in the links, I had to format. It’s insanity versus you guys.

(03:01):
Two days ago, I put together the course craft or masterclass, which is teaching you guys how to create a course. And I took a training I already did for my mastermind group. I already had the slides for it, created it. It’s 60 minutes. I added an introduction video. I then added, what else? A Canva tutorial of how to create the logo and the checklist. I plugged it all together, popped it into teachable, which I already had, and in one day I had another product. I had a mini online course. So much easier!

(03:36):
That product right now for a limited time is $97. I would have had to sell nine or 10 of my books in order to make that amount of profit more because it’s $9 or $13 versus one mini online course. Okay. So there’s my answer. I prefer courses.

(03:57):
Now those of you that are freaking out and you’re like oh, but Stef, I can’t be on video. Don’t be on video, right? Like one of my mastermind clients, Jacqueline Howard. I see you. You don’t want to be on video. That’s okay.

(04:10):
Minimize the video and speak to the slides. You guys do not have to be on video to have a course. So if that makes any of you feel better permission granted. Now that we’ve answered that, the next question I’m getting is should I do a mini online course? Or should I do a signature course and when should I create the course? So let’s start with, when should you have a product?

(04:30):
You can have a product you guys from day one. Okay? I don’t want you to have a product before you have a podcast because a podcast is what drives the traffic to people buying your course. Podcasts first. As soon as you have a podcast, and if you need a podcast, please podcastprouniversity.com.

(04:51):
You guys, I have a million testimonies that this course works and it will get you a podcast up and running and growing in 30 days or less if you do the work. Come on, girl, you got this. Podcastprouniversity.com. Start a show. That is number one.

(05:07):
Why? Because that is how we organically grow traffic. That’s how you get found those of you going, I don’t have an audience that I could sell a course to it’s because you need a podcast. I’m telling you my podcast has, you know, right, 10x the audience.

(05:25):
My revenue is five times what it was last year. It’s insane. All because of the podcast, because I show up here for you guys multiple times a week and pour into you and give you a ton of free value. So you trust me. When you trust me and get a result, you guys are willing to spend money with me. Yes. You need that first.

(05:45):
Once you have done that, check, next step. Create a product.

(05:50):
Now, if you don’t have a lot of super fans from three episodes ago, then I would recommend starting with a course. Why? Because we don’t know yet what people actually want, right? You don’t have enough market research to be 100% sure of what people need. The demand, the actual need, not what we think they want, but what they need.

(06:18):
In order to do that, we have to build an actual legit audience. It takes six months to a year of podcasting. Okay?

(06:26):
I don’t want you to podcast for free for a year. I want you to have a mini course that you promote inside of your show from day one. That mini course is $97, right? Maybe $97, maybe $147. It solves a problem in a quick, easy, seamless way. People can take action on that.

(06:49):
As you grow, you have something to monetize with that’s passive. You don’t need to wait to do that. You guys, as soon as you launch your podcast, the next step is to create a mini online course.

(07:03):
Now, what is your podcast about? Okay, let me, let me just take an example. So one of my clients, Chelsea Joe, you guys love her and know her. I’ve been working with her for a really long time and she has systemized your life.

(07:16):
When we met and she did her podcast. The next thing we did was create her first mini course, which was to systemize your productivity. We are rebranding it now to systemize your motherhood. But we created this mini course that she could start selling from day one.

(07:31):
That mini course has brought in revenue for her, while she got to know her audience and her audience grew to over 500 plus super fans. Now she knows exactly what they need and she’s rebranding. She’s tweaking that mini course to be exactly what people need.

(07:48):
We didn’t know that day one, right? We thought we knew. So we created something and it made money and it helped people. She got people a result, but she’s willing to grow and pivot that product as she gets more feedback from her listeners. That’s what I want for you guys.

(08:06):
Now, if you’re on the other side of the boat right now, and you’re like Stef, I have a thriving coaching business, or I have a huge network marketing business. I have tons of people that are interested in what I do and what I offer. I’m already making money. I have 500,000 plus super fans. I want you to create the signature product.

(08:29):
My signature product is Podcast Pro University, right? You guys, I didn’t know that I needed that as my signature product until I had over 1,000 super fans, because I didn’t know what you guys were needing, what you were asking me for. It was only when I finally clicked and had worked with dozens of private clients that I realized they want to grow an audience and they don’t want to spend money to do it.

(08:55):
They don’t want to run ads or invest in fancy funnels. They literally want to show up in their pjs, messy bun, braless and flawless with their health smoothie, kombucha, or their coffee. Some of you, your wine, don’t get it twisted. I see you.

(09:12):
You want to record an episode from your phone and then you want people to like it and follow you, come hang out with you, and eventually work with you. Buy something, do coaching with you, buy your products, etc. How many of you are nodding?

(09:27):
When I heard that, and I knew it was a podcast because I had done it, I then started coaching people on how to start a podcast. Then I realized that you guys needed a course because why I didn’t want to teach the tech to be really honest. I didn’t want to teach how to start a podcast, how to host it, what’s an RSS feed, what’s inside of a podcast episode, and how to edit. No.

(09:49):
So I recorded all of the components. I made a big beefy signature course. It took me 90 days to really create that signature product. Signature products are between $500 and $1,000. Once it started at $500 and then scale it up. Okay guys, as you get more and more sales and you get to become known as a market leader for your signature course, which is probably two years in. Okay, listen, I’m being really honest. Two or three years in.

(10:22):
I’ve had Podcast Pro for a year and a half. It’s just now taken off as a market leading course for female entrepreneurs who want to start a podcast. Now I’m ready to scale the price up. It’s going up in December. P.S. If you want to start a podcast, grab the course now.

(10:41):
So that’s the signature product conversation. If you have that market research, you guys, and you notice I’m answering the same thing over and over. I have over 500 potentially over 1,000 super fans. Now I create the signature product.

(10:59):
The signature product friends is where you’re going to spend 80% of your marketing time. Okay? Once you have a signature product, put your attention there because we want to get known for one thing.

(11:13):
I want to be known for helping people launch scale and grow profitable podcasts. That’s the signature thing I do. But I have supplemental things that I offer, right? Like the Pinterest mini course. Now I have this course, a mini class. I’ve got private coaching for strategy. And then I have masterminds to help people 10x the podcast.

(11:34):
Then the next thing that I’m doing in 2021 is I’m having a retreat. So those are the things you guys are going to do as you grow. As you show up on your podcast consistently every single week, okay? If you want to grow faster, do two episodes a week.

(11:51):
So those are my thoughts on if you should create a mini course versus a signature product. So those of you who are like, okay, I have a podcast and now I want to create my own mini product. What are my first steps?

(12:04):
Here are your first three steps. Step number one, you have to identify your avatar and what she or he needs most desperately right now. What is the highest level of demand that you are seeing? If you don’t know, and nobody is talking back to you, I want you to go pull other people’s groups.

(12:26):
Come do market research in my group, the Mompreneur Mastermind Show, just hashtag market research. Come over into these mom groups or these food, wellness, or these photographer groups. Whatever it is you do, begin to pull people and find out. Make sure that it’s aligned with your podcast, right? Make sure it’s in brand. That’s number one. What do they need the most?

(12:50):
Number two, create a list of solutions that will get them that result. What do you need to teach them to get them a solution to that problem, make a list. You’re probably going to have a list of 20 things. So the next thing you’re going to do is you’re going to create an outline for an actual course by lumping together all of those solutions in chronological order and coming up with modules.

(13:14):
A mini course, you guys, can be anywhere from an hour, like an hour master class like some of the products I have or to five mini modules that are five to 20 minutes. It’s a small course, but it gets people a result.

(13:32):
Now those are your first three steps. The next thing you’re probably thinking is okay, but how do I create it? I think I know what it could be. And if you don’t know what it could be and you need help grab a strategy call with me and we’ll map it out. Okay. But if you’re like, I know what it is. I’m so excited. I’ve got my list. I’m ready.

(13:51):
For example, I’m a mindset coach. The number one thing that my ladies are having an issue with is money mindset. They can’t break free. They don’t believe that they are worthy of money. I know that that’s the number one problem. I have a list of solutions I’m ready to go.

(14:07):
But, you’re in your own way. Like where do I host it? How do I create it, title the modules, or title the course? How do I sell it? What does a sales page look like? The tech is holding you back. How to record the modules? How to create the PowerPoints? Do I need a logo for my course?

(14:27):
All of those thoughts are going through your mind. Then I want you to come and grab the course crafter masterclass. It is 60 minutes plus bonuses. I’ve got a Canva bonus in there teaching you guys how to create your checklists, your logos for your courses. I have my sales page, swipe file, so you can get my sales page template. What to put in a top converting sales page. I have the full on actual training of how to create a course inside of Teachable. I’ve got live Q and A, and then the first one is an intro and pre homework that you’re going to do.

(15:05):
So all of that is inside of my course crafter masterclass. It’s super easy and not fluffy. It’s not for you if you’re making $20K a month and I need to create like a year long course.

(15:19):
No, this is for those of you that are ready to create your first eCourse, a mini course or a signature product. Okay. So if you guys want to snag that, I just put it up yesterday and it is available for a limited time at only $97. Like I mentioned, all of my digital products are going up before the end of the year. So if you want to grab this at only $97. Do it!

(15:53):
What better time than right now to create your course, map it out, plan it out, create it, and begin to promote it. Then you can launch it in January. January is the perfect time to launch a course. So if you want to grab that, go to my website, stefaniegass.com. It’s up in the top. Just click it. Let’s go. I’m so excited.

(16:32):
It is your year to have passive income and add it into your portfolio. You guys, having a passive revenue stream is amazing. The beauty is once you’ve created one course, you will know exactly how to create another and another until you find the one for you, your signature thing. So I’ll meet you inside the course crafter masterclass. I’m so excited to help you guys do this.

(16:59):
If at any point you are stuck or you’re unsure of what your course should be, could be, how it looks, how to map it out, or how to create the modules for it. Let’s do a one on one coaching call. I will outline your course with you. Or you have a course, it’s not selling, and you need to discuss launch strategy with me or revamp it or whatnot. Again, one hour coaching call and we can do it.

(17:27):
Love you, sis. Grateful for you, praying over you, that you are just excited about the future of your business. That you have open space in your heart and mind for the call that God is whispering into you now more than ever.

(17:43):
I think hearing from God that divine intervention of what he needs and wants you to do and being open to receiving that guidance with confidence and fearlessly leaping, even when it doesn’t make sense. When you’re unsure of all the hows, just taking action, and believing that if God’s called you to it, He will create the path for you to get there. In Jesus’s name, amen. Love ya. I’ll see you back here next week.