Latest / Online Business Uncovered: Simple Strategies for Female Entrepreneurs / 2: How courses can be transformational

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2: How courses can be transformational · Online Business Uncovered: Simple Strategies for Female Entrepreneurs

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to the Digitally She Does It podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I've got a great episode coming up today.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to be talking all about how courses can be transformational.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let's dive in and get started.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Digitally She Does It Show.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host Karen and I'm here to lift the lid on what it actually takes to create a successful business.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you are an ambitious creative ready to build a business on your own terms and without compromise, then this podcast is perfect for you.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: With my award-winning approach to marketing and expert knowledge in creating online courses, this show will leave you feeling inspired, energized, and ready to bring those big dreams to life.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Join me each week for a dose of motivation and marketing know-how, along with actionable step-by-step strategies to help you accelerate your businesses' growth.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: So let's dive in and don't forget to subscribe to all my upcoming episodes, which drop every Wednesday.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to episode two.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm going to be talking about how courses can be transformational.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm going to be sharing a little bit of my own story, but before I do, I just want to say that if you are thinking about creating an online course for your business, perhaps you're feeling as though you don't know where to start or maybe what's involved, then do listen to my upcoming episodes because I'm going to really be diving into this subject in a little bit more detail.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to be sharing with you some things to consider and how to get going with it.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: And what I want is to have a practical element as well, as opposed to just talking about the aspirational side of a business.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to be really open about this because I know from my own experience of creating an online course, and then obviously speaking to my clients as well, there may be things that perhaps you haven't thought about, and I just really want to crack that open and talk openly about what it really takes to get a course up and running.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now I do work with a lot of clients helping them to create online courses, and I know one of the reasons that people decide to do this is because they want to create a more robust business model for themselves.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's fair to say that if the pandemic has shown us anything, it's that anything can really happen.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: And being at the mercy of our clients and trading your time for money, it isn't sustainable long term, especially if the business sits on your shoulders and you're having to be there to deliver your services to your clients.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I do encourage you to at least consider creating some kind of digital asset that you can use to support your business's growth.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now, in today's episode, I just want to dive in a little bit about my story because as a student having taken many courses, it's led me to where I am today.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And normally, when I talk about online courses, obviously I'm talking about it from the perspective of being the business owner and using courses to scale your business.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: But actually, what I really want to do is talk to you more about it from a student's perspective so that you can see how transformational courses can be.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, many moons ago, I used to be in a completely different career, and I found myself at a stage in my life where I needed to make change because I was in a career that wasn't really aligned with who I am and wasn't really fulfilling me in the way that I needed it to, and so I took many courses so that I could really learn the industry in which I wanted to move over to, and I felt doing this, taking these courses was so incredibly powerful because it gave me insight and gave me the skills that I needed in order to up-level myself so that I could really try and achieve the ambitions that I wanted to achieve for myself.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now I've always been fairly ambitious, and I did know from a very young age that I wanted a career and that my career was going to be really important to me.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I used to daydream about the jobs that I would have when I was at school, so it was something that I did place a huge amount of importance on, and I always accepted, especially in my early 20s or late teens, when I actually started in the world of work, I knew that I would have to start at the bottom of the ladder and work up, and I was absolutely fine with that.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Never been afraid of hard work, so I was all for learning at the bottom and then growing.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: I never expected to become an expert overnight, it was not something that ever really occurred to me.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to do a good job, but I wanted to have a job that I really enjoyed.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now, when I was in my late teens, I left school and I took on sort of various positions because ultimately I wanted to go and work in the big city and I wanted to gain experience.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: However, for a large proportion of my 20s, I spent feeling incredibly frustrated because what I was doing didn't feel aligned with who I was, and so every job I had, there was just always something that didn't sit quite right with me, and it just used to really frustrate me, and I just always felt as though I was on the wrong path.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Now I don't know if you've ever felt like that, as though you can't quite put your finger on it, but what you do know is where you are and what you're feeling is not right, and that some kind of change and shift needs to take place because you're out of kill in some way, and that's exactly how I felt through my 20s.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: I had these big ambitions, I had in my mind I was on my way to carving out this really important career for myself, but the truth of it was I was taking jobs on that were just not fulfilling me the way I had hoped.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then when I was in my early to mid-20s, I realized that the job that I really wanted was I wanted to become a graphic designer, that was what my ambition was.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I decided to embark on courses.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: I thought, you know what, I want to go and learn the trade in which I have a desire to enter into.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I applied for many courses and I spent five years taking courses to really learn the art of design.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I think looking back, it was quite a bold move because I didn't actually have like a fixed vision, it wasn't something that I'd kind of said in my mind, right, I'm going to be a graphic designer.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: It was never about that.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: I just knew that I wanted to work in a job where I was being creative and that I was autonomous on projects so that I could really put my creative talents to use.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, I realized that the role of a graphic designer was where I was heading, but in the early years, I didn't have that plan.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: All I knew was that I wanted to kind of learn the art of design, and so courses became my focus, and at that time online courses weren't so popular or available, so I was having to go to night school and learn after work, and like I say, I spent five years doing many, many different courses so that I could build my portfolio because I just knew that at some point it would be a valuable asset for me.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, I wanted to spend my energy and my time creating the path that was going to lead me to where I was going to end up, and although at the time I didn't actually know where that was, I just knew that if I focused in on these courses one by one and step by step they would lead me to where I needed to go.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I spent over five years doing that, and then when I was 28, I had the opportunity to leave my career at that time and go and do a BA honours degree in a creative university, which I did and absolutely loved, and that is ultimately what led me to become a graphic designer because I realized as I was doing these courses that that was the natural path that I was going to end up on.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, although I spent eight years learning my craft, what became really apparent was the power that these courses had because they were teaching me skills and they were allowing me to evolve as a person because they were giving me what I needed that was ultimately building my confidence.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: So when I qualified and I got my degree and I got the job that ultimately I wanted, it was amazing and it was incredibly powerful.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I think looking back, there are many things that in my own personal journey I feel proud of, but that's definitely one of them, and that wouldn't have been possible had those courses not been there available to me for me to get my portfolio together so I could then go and do my degree.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: So when I was 32, I was then in my chosen field of graphic and web design, and I was working for a national brand, and everything was going great.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: But then for me, that unsettled feeling came about, and I was starting to once again feel that frustration, which was frustrating in itself, because I thought that I had aligned myself with the direction that I was meant to be going in, and it wasn't until I had my children and my eldest daughter was starting school that I realized that I'd kind of got to a place where I was ready to grow again, and so that's when I decided that I was going to start my business and I was going to become an entrepreneur.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: But in order for me to become an entrepreneur and to start my business, I then took further courses to learn new skills that I needed to have in order to do the thing that I needed to do.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I think what that gave me, that gave me the freedom to choose my path, but it also gave me the opportunity to be there for my children as they were starting school, and that was for me a non-negotiable.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: I needed to be available to them so that I could have that time with them once they got home from school, because I do feel like our children are only young for a small amount of time, and we do need to enjoy that time before it goes, and even now my children are a lot older, my children are eight and ten, and I look back and I think, oh my goodness, where's that time gone?
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: But what I do also feel is that had I not gone on that journey of taking those courses and then doing the degree and then taking further courses to be able to create my business, I wouldn't have been able to enjoy those moments with them after school, and so that's where the power of these courses come in because it gave me freedom, it gave me opportunity, and it allowed me to upskill myself to the point that I could make decisions on what was right for me, as opposed to having to do a job that didn't really fulfil me, but also took me away from spending that time with my children.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I just wanted to kind of share that with you because, from a student's perspective, being able to be given that power is unbelievably transformational.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I often have these moments where I sit there and I think, oh my goodness, what would my life be like had I not done those courses, had I not taken those steps and kind of almost been brave enough to make the change in my life.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think I would obviously I wouldn't be here today delivering this episode, but also I don't believe I would have had my business and I wouldn't be where I am today.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: And when I think about it in those terms, I think, wow, you know, that's incredible.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't think I'm alone with this.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think that many people have managed to change their lives and their future by taking courses that have enabled them to really upskill themselves and up-level where they're going, and that's where the power is.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I think as entrepreneurs, we have this opportunity now.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now that we are living in this digital age, we can share what we know and package up our skills and our knowledge and really make it accessible to other people so that they can take the change that they need to make their life better.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like creating online courses, whilst it does hugely benefit the entrepreneur or the business owner, looking at it from a student's perspective, it can be life-changing.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's something that doesn't often get spoken about.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think also that's why I have a deeper connection to education, to creating online courses, to supporting other people's growth, because I identify what it's done for me in my life and where I am today.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope that decisions that I've made and the journey that I've gone on and the teachings that I now share with others, I hope it creates a positive effect in their life, in their world, because I think that's what we're here to do.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: We're here to support each other and to raise other people up and to support them through our businesses.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I do believe that when you start a business or you do become an entrepreneur, what you're actually doing is embarking on a personal journey of self-development.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I really noticed that over the period of time that I've been running my business because I feel like every step of the way I'm learning these lessons that's moving me forward in my life.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: I spoke about the law of attraction in my previous episode, and I really do believe that.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's almost like cat eyes on a road, you know, every time you take a step forward, another one presents itself and it leads you to where you need to be going.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like our businesses are really the vehicles that's going to take us to that destination that we ultimately want to end up at, and I think that's incredibly powerful.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think to have that power available to us and to be in our own driving seat is incredible, and to then create the impact that we can through our businesses, it just makes everything so worthwhile.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are in a place where maybe you feel like you're a little bit kind of caught up in exchanging time for money and you are feeling like you're on this hamster wheel of just serving your clients but not really making the impact or the difference that you want to make in the world, then do consider thinking about other ways in which you can package up your valuable knowledge and expertise so that you can support other people's growth.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I talk a lot about online courses because it is a great way to reach a wider audience and to create more impact in the world.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now, my intention for today's episode is to talk to you from a student's perspective of how powerful online courses can be, and I do feel that with the knowledge that we have at our fingertips, it can be life-changing sharing that for other people.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I know, again, just coming at it from a student's perspective, all the time I learned new things and I got clearer about what I was learning, or the clearer on the direction I was taking, my confidence grew and I felt more empowered.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a really important point to make is that yes, courses can be really powerful because they can teach people how to do something, or they can shift perspective, or they can help them to change their life in some way.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, what you're doing is you're elevating them because you're given that power that they can then use to improve their life, it's incredibly powerful.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: And like I say, I do believe that had I not taken the path that I took and done the courses that I did, I really wouldn't be where I am today.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just want to encourage you that number one, if you are a business owner or an entrepreneur and you are thinking about creating a digital arm to your business where you are providing online courses, really do consider the impact that they do have on other people's lives.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now, your course doesn't have to be life-changing, it doesn't have to be, oh my god, this person's gonna take my course and all they're gonna learn is how to use Facebook.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be life-changing in that respect, but just think that anything you teach somebody can have a ripple effect and it can lead them to the next step in their journey, and what you may feel may not be powerful may actually for that individual be so life-changing.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: So, if you are thinking that what you have to teach wouldn't necessarily be life-changing, so there's no point.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: I encourage you to just shift your thinking around that and think, well, actually, even by somebody learning this thing that might not be life-changing, what it may be doing is teaching them a necessary skill that's going to move them forward.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the lovely thing about online courses is that you can impact more people and you can create more of a positive influence in the world, which I will always champion because I think so many people need to be doing that.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I just really wanted to share my perspective, like I said, as a student, just to sort of give you an insight on what that looks like, but also from an entrepreneur's point of view, an online course can really strengthen your business model and of course give you that passive revenue that you may be desiring in your business so that you can scale and get the freedom that you are wanting to achieve.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: It can, of course, take your business to the next level and really make a difference in your life.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to today's episode.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you found this episode of value, and of course, please do feel free to share it with anyone else that you feel will benefit from today's episode.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you are feeling inspired and you would like to know more about getting started with creating an online course, then why not download my free ebook, 10 Steps to Digital Course Success, by visiting my website www.caren hyphenavies.com and I will be back next week with another episode.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: But until then, enjoy the rest of your week.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Digitally She Does It Show.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to check out the show notes for all the links and resources mentioned in today's episode.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: New episodes drop every week on a Wednesday, so why not rate and subscribe so you never miss an episode?
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for tuning in today, and I will see you next time.