The internet has made it possible for anyone to become a producer or publisher..without any gatekeepers. Instead of having to please a gatekeeper, now we have to speak directly to the needs of our target audience. How can we best do that?
The role of the teacher is not to pour knowledge into empty vessels, but rather to elicit from our learners the energies and abilities that reside within THEM. We are not here to fill others' heads with what WE know, but rather to support their process of developing what THEY know. How can we discover what they need to know, and what they most need to learn from us?
As a teacher, you have to have something of value to offer people... some energy differential that gives you the power/energy/flow to help your learners achieve a transformation.
What's the difference you're here to make in the world? You are the sun of your "solar system"... what's the PURPOSE of your system?
You may have a BIG transformation for your entire online business enterprise... which in a course-focused business, may equate to a whole online "school" rather than just a single course.
How can you understand the market, understand your customers, understand your own central mission and motivating purpose, and create a course (or courses) that not only accomodates the market but also brings in the level of crafstmanship that leads to deep learning?
We need to deeply attune to our target audience's VALUES... the things that are important to them.
As heart-centered, service-oriented, mission-driven entrepreneurs, how can we connect to our target market with deep understanding of their motivations, values, and needs?
At the meeting on Saturday, July 25th, 2020, community member Shirley Pordominsky gave a fascinating presentation about the LAB Profile (Language and Behavior Profile) which evolved from Neuro Linguistic Programming.
As a Life Coach, Shirley works with entrepreneurs who want to reinvent themselves, to discover who they really are, what they want, and how to get it, no matter their age or circumstances. Shirley has been practicing from 1998 to today as NLP Master Practitioner, a LAB Profile Trainer and Consultant, is a CoachU graduate. She is a Lifelong learner pursuing knowledge for personal development, and to be up to date and to offer it to her coaching clients.
At last week's community meeting, Shirley did a masterful job of making us aware of different factors that may motivate ourselves, and/or our students and customers, in various ways. She helped us understand that there are different patterns of motivation, such as those that lead people either TOWARD a goal or AWAY from a negative consequence.
Some people, she explained, prefer to think about options, while others focus on procedures. Understanding your own preferences and those of your students, customers, or anyone else you interact with, adds depth and effectiveness to your interaction in a particular context.
Business is about relationships and serving people's needs. Who are the people whose needs you serve with your business and course? How can you learn more about them and what those needs are?
You can explore the LAB profile for yourself here, and use it to gain nuanced contextual understanding
of yourself and others as you interact in various contexts and settings:
https://thelabprofile.com/free-lab-profile/
One of the wonderful things about creating community is the synergy and empowerment we can all give to and gain from each other.A huge thank you to Shirley for her fascinating presentation, which helped us all learn and get smarter!
Back in the day when we used to be able to travel, I was fortunate enough to attend Digital Marketer's Traffic & Conversion conference. Ryan Deiss gave a mesmerizing keynote speech in which he said that the businesses that succeed long term going forward will be those that can not only make the initial sale, but take their customers through ALL the stages of the Customer Value Journey.
If your business is focused on delivering online learning, it's critical to understand what it takes to help your customers get value from the products and services you deliver. An online course is a much more complex product than, say, a toothbrush. It's not enough to just put a course online.. you also need to nurture, support, and guide your course participants along the path from Point A to Point B that your course represents.
How will you do that for your customers? An important consideration is, how can you determine what their Point A, the starting point for their learning journey, is? If you're interested in exploring that in more depth, I've created a low-cost action plan (mini-course) to help you get to know your customers' learning needs, further.
The focus of this mini course is on getting to know your customer's learning needs in relation to what you want to teach. If you'd like to talk more about this important topic, come on over to the Course Design Formula® Community Facebook group and let's keep the conversation going.
Better yet, join us for next week's community meeting on Saturday, August 8th as we continue our collaborative exploration of how to survive and thrive during these unprecedented times. I was honored this past week to meet Korrie Olszewski, who takes a soul-centered approach to digital marketing. I've invited Korrie to join us next week and share more about her unique approach to getting to know and reach customers.
Come to the community meeting
Saturday, August 8th, 2020
9 AM Pacific/ 12 Noon Eastern
